There is more than one way to care for your favorite pair of jeans. How to take care of and wash denim is one of the most frequently asked questions at Artisan de Luxe. Here are some of our tips and tricks to extending the life of your jeans and how to best care for the fabric & craftsmanship.
Tubbing it!
Kevin will tell you that soaking your jeans in a tub is the best way to care for denim, especially raw & selvedge jeans (his jeans never touch a washer)... Here's how you do it:
- Fill your tub with water (cold water for sanforized, hot water for unsanforized). If you are unsure it is safe to use lukewarm water. Throw a bit of detergent in the water as well. Kevin's recommendation is to use Woolite Dark!
- Turn your jeans inside out and fully submerge them in the water. Move 'em around a bit to help get the excess dirt out.
- Let your denim soak for 20 to 30 minutes.
- Drain the water from the tub. While the water is draining run some cold water to rinse out any detergent left in the denim.
- Take your denim out and squeeze out any excess water.
- Let the denim air-dry!
Into the Machine!
Now this is my method. Machine washing your jeans is definitely a bit easier than using the tub. I normally try to get 10 wears out of my jeans before putting them in the wash. Between washes, I try to spot clean my denim as much as I can. You should know that dryers are not a good friend of your favorite pair of jeans. Here is how I machine wash my denim:
- Turn your jeans inside out. This well help protect the indigo dye on the fabric.
- I turn my washer to a gentle or delicate cycle and wash my denim in cold water. The less agitation in the washer the better.
- Throw your jeans in and wait.
- Take the denim out. Then turn them right-side out and shake them out a bit to get any wrinkles out. Lay flat to dry.
- If you are like me and sometimes you absolutely cannot wait for the air to dry your jeans, you can throw them into the dryer on a tumble dry cycle WITHOUT heat. I do try to avoid the dryer as much as possible.
I hope this article helps. We also are able to repair your jeans here at the shop. Bring them in and we will patch them up for you!