How often should you wash your jeans?

[Super Nova]

How often should you wash your jeans?

I know mine only get washed because my wife hunts them down, beats them wit ha stick to subdue them before putting them into the washing machine.

When I was single I went many months between washes. I never put them in to be washed I=unless I get them visibly dirty.

What about you guys. I am the only animal that considers jeans differently to all other clothing?

Article that raised this to my attention.

How often should you wash your jeans?

The CEO of Levi's has admitted that his year-old pair of jeans have never been cleaned. That's because denim aficionados know that jeans are great unwashed, says Luke Leitch.

Chip Bergh is no slob - his hair is neatly trimmed and he tucks his shirt in. And as the CEO of Levi Strauss, he isn't short of a bob or two. So when Bergh told an audience of freshly-pressed, chino-wearing business types this week that his favourite year-old pair of jeans has never, ever seen the the inside of a washing machine - "I know it sounds disgusting," he said as they tittered - the confession ricocheted around the internet as noisily as a pound coin left in the drum on final cycle.

Bergh's refusal to launder his trousers does sound disgusting to many. Yet as he rightly observed, there is a steadily-growing constituency of "denim aficionados" that insists jeans are only great unwashed. This mostly-masculine cult of the unclean might take its trousers a little too seriously, but they aren't simply soap-dodging for the sake of it.

The starting point is "raw" denim; indigo cotton that has been left in its natural state after dyeing. Most casual jeans-wearers will choose jeans that have been industrially washed and softened - sometimes sandblasted too, to give an appearance of wear - as part of the manufacturing process. The purists, though, will only buy the hard stuff; crisp raw denim that's uniformly blue and unforgivingly stiff.

The idea is that each time a pair of raw denim jeans is worn, it will be infinitesimally moulded and softened by the man inside it. Over the years they will develop a patina of fade, chafe and crease as individual as your fingerprint. Online, denim wearers post pictures of their raw jeans by Dior Homme, A.P.C, Levi's, Naked & Famous or Edwin accompanied by captions specifying how long they have been worn for. One blog claims to show a pair of raw Levi's 501s that has been worn every day for 15 years - and never once washed. Lovely.

Water plus washing powder is poison for raw denim lovers. It interferes with that indigo dye, muddies the wear-marks on their jeans, and thus dilutes the purity of their achievement. A tart's bath of Febreze, sticking them in the freezer, or leaving them to air for days outside are just some of the hotly-debated tactics for putting off washday for a few more months. There comes a point, though, when daily-worn jeans become so ingrained with skin, dirt, sweat and whatever other unmentionables they have run into that only the most anti-social can bear the smell any longer.

A.P.C., the French brand that makes excellent straight-legged raw denim jeans, recommends four washing techniques. One, the "Extremist" is to "let your jeans get dirty for as long as possible", then dry clean once, and afterwards only ever soak your jeans briefly in water and wool detergent before rolling in a towel. Another is to "Go swimming in the ocean wearing your jeans, rub your jeans with dry sand and repeat several times. Rinse in the fresh (not salt) water and let them dry in the sun." This isn't a joke: online there are several videos dedicated to the "beach wash" method.

Not washing your jeans for a year or 15 sounds pretty weird. But as any good tailor will attest, the best way to keep a suit in top condition is to sponge or spot clean where necessary - and to only resort to dry cleaning in emergencies. Because as long as you shower daily, your clothes shouldn't have to.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/fashion- ... jeans.html

[AiA in Atlanta]

My office is casual so I wear jeans most of the year except when it is just too hot. The jeans I wear to work are the really nice selvedge jeans: thick, stiff denim fabric with a dark wash. I learned not to wash jeans when living in Japan so this isn't new to me. And besides, I do nothing but sit in a clean office with them so they don't get dirty. So when wearing expensive premium denim treat them like you would an expensive pair of wool trousers: you wouldn't throw them in the wash nor would you dry clean them too often (I have never had denim dry cleaned anyway). Now, jeans I actually do physical dirty work in are certainly washed. I care fuck all how they look.