wash your jeans?

[torfjord]

^Agree. My wife will wash a pair of pants that she wore out for 2 hours.
That’s real OCD.

Some of this MUST all be climate and activity based. Riding a bicycle in 80 and humid is a totally different thing from sitting in a 68 degree office.

For sure climate, humidity and activity plays a role in this. I definitely wash my clothes more often in the summer. And if I had been doing manual labor more often, that would have also meant washing more regularly as well. But washing after wearing a pair of pants for a day? That’s just ridiculous to me, unless you’ve used the pants to literally wade through shit.

But to be more on-topic: for me the appeal in high end selvedge jeans are the larger variety of fits (roomier and high rise for me please), rather than the material itself. Fades are nice and all but I’d happily buy cheaper jeans if I could find any with the fit I like.

Even ridiculously expensive jeans will eventually need crotch repairs. I always make the repairs myself, it’s really easy.

 

[navetsea]

Im now curiously wait... what the secret about this pants that is priced 3x more than most of my other pants.

I hope i can live with buttoned fly, since i have enjoyed zip fly with all my other pants.

 

[jonesy86]

 

[jonesy86]

I like the LVC 1954 501Z and wash them in cold water by hand when they get dirty.

 

[Big J]

Bfd70 makes a great point.
If you live in London (for example) which has low temps and humidity, and lead a relatively sedentary lifestyle, I can see how washing your pants (that you only wear at weekends) once a month could be feasible.
If you live in Japan, which is humid even in winter, and tried that, the temps and bacteria would eat your pants in a month. Perhaps that why Japanese denim on Japanese sites always looks 20 years old in a month?

Nevertheless, real workmen back in the day sweated and labored in jeans, and they were surely washed regularly (i.e. once a week).

 

[patrick_b]

Jeeze! I do a couple hours of work and miss 2 pages of denim debate! I really gotta quit my job. Anyhow, at this point it seems like the entire spectrum of opinions has been covered so i’ll just throw in how i roll. I don’t think raw denim lasts longer or at least not 4xs longer which is often the price differential.I don’t think my $350 IH resists fade better than my $60 Levi. I do think the craftsmanship is better. I do think there are more and better fit options typically. I do like supporting smaller brands that i think are doing interesting things. I wear really old high priced clothing or newer inexpensive items when doing “hard labor”. I likely have too much time and income if i think about these things.
Washwise, not too frequently, but I don’t wear denim to work so a typical day is 4 hours of wear and 12 on weekends. Because of that 6 months is really more like 2. My pants never smell but i’m guessing Java is a little sweatier than here.

Very well said.

 

[navetsea]

Honestly I wash my normal clothes and pants by hand too sometime with shower gel as they rinse easier and claimed to be antibacterial, too little quantity waiting for washing machine, i never iron them though. Just hang them in the shade in my half open garage out of sight. Formal shirt, blazer, or suit go to drycleaner.

 

[patrick_b]

Off topic but anyone hand wash cashmere? I'm OK washing merino wool on delicate w/woolite and drying flat. Keep wondering if I can do cashmere sweaters the same way?

 

[handymike]

I imagine so, just be gentle in the sink and careful with your blocking.

 

[americaneon]

Back in the 1960's, the must have jeans were Levi 501's, and they weren't pre-shrunk. Owners of those jeans had blue legs forever. The way to make them fit was to sit in a bathtub of warm water, forever and a day and let the jeans shrink to your leg size. Seriously.

I've never had a love of denim and seeing friends at the swimming pool with what we used to call aristocratic (blue blood) legs, just reinforced my dislike of the material.

I thought it was just me. All these years keeping quiet every time this subject came up. Putting a pair of smelly jeans in the freezer with my yellow-tailed snapper and wild boar has always seemed like some kind of health transgression that could only result in something ugly.

ha! Ha!

 

[Seb Lucas]

I don't spend any time thinking about denim but I do own several pairs of cowboy Wranglers which I wash when I remember to.

I have a broader question. Jerry Seinfeld, amongst others, has argued that older men often look bad in jeans and shouldn't wear them. Guess he was talking over 40's. I've heard this position stated by numerous younger women over the years. I do think there are many instances where I have seen older guys like myself wearing jeans and thought 'that looks terrible'. Seinfeld himself looked pretty bad in them in his 30's. Sam Elliott, however, can get away with them at pension age.

What do people think? Is it the type of jeans or the type of person that makes them work or not? Or some of both?

 

[handymike]

Both!

 

[Seb Lucas]

Off topic but anyone hand wash cashmere? I'm OK washing merino wool on delicate w/woolite and drying flat. Keep wondering if I can do cashmere sweaters the same way?

Of course. How do you think our grandmothers washed them in the 1950's?

 

[Bfd70]

100% and case closed.
Now ask if older men should wear shorts


Meant to quote handymike. It’s late and friday

 

[Seb Lucas]

I also recall Adam Savage talking about jeans a few years back saying that getting the right fit for jeans is really hard to do without help and something most older men don't appreciate - so they often look awful.

Naturally there'll be a wide range of views about what constitutes the right fit. I guess there are certain looks that set their own expectation re fit and fades - hipster denim, mall denim, weekend accountant denim... amongst others.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Well lets see..I'm 71 years old and still wear jeans regularly as I have all my life. If someone thinks that looks strange..well tough titty. If you are blessed enough to reach my age, you just don't really care if others think that you may look 'too old ' for something.

In the '50s during my grade school and Jr High years I remember Dad buying my dark blue heavy denim Levis on sale 2 for $5 at times. Never noticed anyone back then concerned with spiderweb fades, delicately washing them a certain way and definitely not taking a bath wearing jeans. I might wear my jeans a couple weeks or more before throwing them in the washer and drying them in the dryer. However I don't wear them to work since I have been retired now for 19 years. Sometimes I just casually sit around in my underwear all day typing nonsense on this forum. Yet I do slip on my jeans most of the time especially when leaving the house.

No one yet has said to me that I shouldn't wear something or that I look terrible. Maybe they pity how decrepit I appear and have some mercy on me, OR maybe they're reluctant to approach me since I come across as so damn mean without room for much foolish behavior. I hope all of you reach old age with the same attitude.
HD

 

[navetsea]

I suspect some old person might have changed their view of style and opt for easier wearing clothes, when such person buy jeans then it would potentially look awful on them as well as on young person in similar size, its just wrong sizing i think. And with what other items the jeans is paired with, i remember my late father wore his jeans hemmed like it was dress pants with thin dressy belt and short sleeved polo shirt in print fabric tucked into it and polished leather sandals or loafers.... it was just looked wrong and the denim fabrics stands out wrongly out of place. And he was just in his late 40s or early 50s, I am now 40... i cant imagine i would dress like him ever, just different style

 

[Seb Lucas]

Well lets see..I'm 71 years old and still wear jeans regularly as I have all my life. If someone thinks that looks strange..well tough titty. If you are blessed enough to reach my age, you just don't really care if others think that you may look 'too old ' for something.

In the '50s during my grade school and Jr High years I remember Dad buying my dark blue heavy denim Levis on sale 2 for $5 at times. Never noticed anyone back then concerned with spiderweb fades, delicately washing them a certain way and definitely not taking a bath wearing jeans. I might wear my jeans a couple weeks or more before throwing them in the washer and drying them in the dryer. However I don't wear them to work since I have been retired now for 19 years. Sometimes I just casually sit around in my underwear all day typing nonsense on this forum. Yet I do slip on my jeans most of the time especially when leaving the house.

No one yet has said to me that I shouldn't wear something or that I look terrible. Maybe they pity how decrepit I appear and have some mercy on me, OR maybe they're reluctant to approach me since I come across as so damn mean without room for much foolish behavior. I hope all of you reach old age with the same attitude.
HD

Absolutely. Spiderweb fades... I don't even know what the hell they are. But if comfort was all I cared about I would just wear a poly-cotton tracksuit with an M65 when it got cold.

 

[navetsea]

spider web fade, I googled that...
and I learnt something new
some people do want paddy field look for hairstyle

 

[navetsea]

Hahh it just came by the courier, i hopped right into it... i must say i dont know if i can open the fly buttons later without dislocating my fingers, other than that the fit and the thickness and the extra length i hope to achieve with 37" inseam is pretty spot on not bad at all for 1st timer online as well. Especially since I picked size 28, because the sizing parameters looked like my size with some room on top, while normally I see size 30 on lower rise pants. I'm happy with how dark it is too. Here some quick pics before i remove the tag and give it a rinse before it stains everything.