My folks had a friend who’d been raised on a ranch in Arizona. It was a hard-scrabble ranch and there were a lot of kids so money was always short. The neighboring ranch was owned by a bachelor who once a year would buy jeans. I don’t know if he broke them in or not – jeans weren’t a fashion statement at that time and place – but they were his only pair and he would wear them for a year without washing them, then give them to the family for whichever kid they would fit that year. Mom would light a fire under a kettle in the yard, and use a stick to drop the donated jeans in to boil for several hours. I would assume soap was involved as well.
Not washing clothing seems just plain disgusting to me.
Yeah, eww.
When I was in my teens, we would (UK, 1970s) take a long, very hot bath, while wearing a brand-new pair of jeans. The thinking was, they would shrink to mold to your shape and fit perfectly.
Which of course is nonsense, but I believed it at 15.
I’m going to chime in with another EWWWWWW
Sustainability or not, I do NOT want to be stuck in an elevator (or anywhere else, like a restaurant buffet) with someone in jeans that haven’t been washed in a year or more. I’m not a germophobe but that’s just gross and nasty people.
If you Venn diagram “people who wear the same pair of jeans for a year without laundering” and “people who ride elevators or eat at restaurant buffets” you’ll see they do not intersect at all.
I’m not so sure of that one. I live in New York, and I find that members of the group “People who never wash their jeans” can also be members of the group “People who ride in the same elevator as me.”.
However, if you do a Venn diagram of People who wear the same pair of jeans for a whole year without laundering and People who get “the babes”, I’m pretty sure you’ll find that one a non-intersecting diagram.
A green suggestion: hang the jeans out on a clothesline once in a while. Fresh air does wonders in eliminating bad smells. In garment odor control, as in politics, sunshine is one of the best disinfectants.
There is a study going on in the UK of non-pre-washed jeans being worn for six months without washing, or so a report on the BBC said. The jeans were issued free to people who promised not to wash them, and to return them, to allow their condition to be assessed.
I usually wear my jeans at least 5-6 times, maybe more, before washing them. But most of the time I’m wearing them at home or at my office and as Cecil says, I change into clean underwear every day. So there’s never been a problem with odor (and believe me my wife would not be shy about telling me if there was).
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If you Venn diagram “people who wear the same pair of jeans for a year without laundering” and “people who ride elevators or eat at restaurant buffets” you’ll see they do not intersect at all.
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Some of the BART trains here still have cloth seats, which do a tremendous job of absorbing farts, urine, sweat and worse from the homeless people who see the train as a rolling bedroom.
I challenge you to sit on the train for an hour and not have an overwhelming urge to boil your pants before riding the elevator up to your office.
Don’t be a damn hippie, & wash!
Showering, bathing, clean underwear or not - nasty tight denim encasing one’s nether region is going to get a definite stank later, if not sooner. Sweat, urine, blood, or worse - gonna get waves of fetid smell wafting up.
Charmbrights, if you wouldn’t mind keeping an eye on that study and let us know when results emerge, we’d be happy to do an update (if required) at that time. Thanks in advance! (We just don’t have enough staff to worry about looking for updates, we need folks to let us know about 'em.)
I go commando, except in the winter when it’s cold enough for longjohns. I can’t imagine wearing jeans over and over, especially in the summer, without washing them.:eek:
I wonder if the freezing ultimately consumes more resources than washing.
I could see wearing the jeans 2 or 3 times without washing - I’ve done that in a pinch. As long as you aren’t spilling things on them or sweating them soggy or otherwise making a mess.
But I wouldn’t be comfortable with more than about 3 days, if that is a solid 8 to 10 hours each day.
Also, airing between wearings (like alternating pairs) would help my mental state, if nothing else.
mbrice, what are the effects of the UV in sunlight on the fabric? Sunlight tends to fade materials, and UV is damaging to some materials, though perhaps not so much to cotton denim.
Perhaps turn them inside out before hanging them to air out and catch rays? That having been said, I had heard about the “no wash for six months” thing and tried it last fall when it was still somewhat warm. I’m a somewhat sweaty guy, and, well, three days and they were in the wash. Didn’t try freezing or sunlight though, might have another go, see if I can push it up to a week.
I wear my jeans three times, occasionally four times, and then wash them. And that’s not going to change.
I was recently reading this article about raw an selvidge denim. It included:
Those denim nuts who freak out at the very idea of washing jeans are, of course, nuts.
I have expensive selvedge jeans, which I bought at a large markdown, and which I wash once they’ve been worn a few times. They look good, they don’t stink, and if you buy a size up, they’ll shrink to a good fit with normal wear and washing.