When I was wearing a suit, I’d alternate between two jackets and 4 pants. The pants would get washed after about 10 days of use, which would come out about every 2 months. And the gentleman who sold me my next suit thought that was excessive, and was contributing to the wear and tear I was getting.
His professional opinion was that I should treat my suits more carefully, so that I could wash and press them less frequently.
Fresh underwear, collar and cuffs every day. Fresh shirt every day, because it was attached to the collar and cuffs. I wash my jeans immediatly after mowing the law. Sitting at the desk they last until it’s time to mow the lawn.
A couple of years ago Primer Magazine did an article on this, so I decided to give it a try.
They gave the following instructions: Rotate your jeans collection; Use Febreze or hang out in direct sunlight to address problem odors; If you must wash them, turn them inside out first.
The key was rotation.
I bought two pairs of nice dark loose-fit jeans and started wearing them on alternate days in February 2013, with the occasional non-jeans day (e.g. church day or my monthly visit to the office).
I believe I asked my wife to wash them one single time at the end of the year.
The jeans look just as dark as when they were new, and there is no noticeable funky smell. I’m certain that each pair was worn once or twice a week for a year and a half, and aired out on the intervening days.
Still have them today. This process works for me, and I’m happy since machine washing and drying wears out clothing before its time.
And my wife has confirmed that there is no stank. She stopped washing her jeans as well.
On another note, I found Cecil’s treatment of the freezer technique to be rather dismissive. I am disappointed in how little effort he put in debunking this; I am supposed to accept that it doesn’t work simply because he says so? It wouldn’t surprise me if he is right, but he could at least cite some evidence.
Proud owner of three month old raw levi 501s that haven’t been washed once. If your jeans are smelling to the point that they need to be washed after a week, you are the one with cleanliness issues.
I shower in the morning, always wear fresh underwear and my jeans have never smelled.
I did make the mistake of biking in them on a 90 degree day, afterward they smelled a bit. I just dipped them in a tub of hot water inside out, wrote them until they were dry and then froze them overnight
I’m a cleanliness freak when it comes to personal hygiene, and I usually wear my jeans a couple of times before I wash them. (Depending on where I’ve been or what I’ve been doing, if I’ve just been sitting around in them, hanging out, as opposed to going out and doing some major sweating or whatever) But I change my undies every day, as well as bathing every night.
Never washing your jeans? Only washing them once a month? Eeeew.
With the suits for work I have 4 on rotation. Pants don’t normally get more than 2 days wear then go back until next week so I’ll put some into the dry cleaners every month or 2 after they’ve had a few wears.
With the Jeans, I also have several pairs of jeans. 1 pair are for good, that haven’t been washed yet but they’ve been worn 4 times and each time only for a couple of hours then changed. The others I’ll wear for 2-3 days if I’m wearing them all day and then they’re looking for a wash.