How do I wash jeans so they last?

Denim is heavy cotton twill dyed with indigo that sits on the surface of the yarn rather than penetrating it. That is why jeans fade at the knees and seat — the dye rubs off. Washing accelerates the same process everywhere at once, which is why jeans washed weekly look tired within a year.

What you'll need

• A washing machine
• A gentle detergent
• White vinegar, for the first wash (optional)

Step by step

1. Wash them far less often than other clothes.Every ten wears is a reasonable rule for ordinary use, sooner if they are actually dirty or you have been working in them. Denim does not hold smell the way synthetics do.
2. Air them between wears.Hung somewhere with moving air overnight rather than dropped on the floor. Most of what makes jeans feel like they need washing is moisture, not dirt.
3. Turn them inside out.The abrasion of the wash happens on the inside face instead of the outside. It is the simplest thing you can do to slow fading.
4. Do up the buttons and zips.Open metal hardware catches on other garments and on the drum, and a zip can shred a knit in one cycle.
5. Wash cold on a gentle cycle.Thirty degrees or cooler. Heat both releases indigo and degrades elastane, and virtually all modern jeans contain some elastane.
6. Use a low spin.800 or less. High spin drives creases into heavy twill and stresses the seams. It also does not save much drying time on denim.
7. Never tumble dry them.This is what shrinks jeans and what destroys the elastane, so stretch jeans lose their recovery and go baggy at the knee within months.
8. Hang them by the waistband to dry.Pegged at the waist, legs down, so their own weight pulls them straight. Drying flat leaves a fold line down the leg.
9. Take them off the line slightly damp.Bone dry denim feels like card. Wearing them just damp lets them mould back to your shape, which is what makes jeans comfortable.
10. Set the dye on new dark jeans.First wash alone, cold, with a cup of white vinegar. It reduces how much indigo transfers onto sofas and other clothes.

Tips

• New raw or selvedge denim is a separate case — those are meant to be worn unwashed for months to develop fades, then washed cold by hand.
• Dark jeans transfer dye onto light upholstery and bags for the first few months regardless. Keep new dark denim away from a cream sofa.
• If jeans smell rather than look dirty, hanging them outside on a breezy day usually resolves it entirely.

Common mistakes

• Tumble drying jeans — The heat destroys the elastane fibre that gives stretch jeans their recovery, so the knees and seat bag out permanently, and it shrinks the cotton at the same time.
• Washing them weekly out of habit — Every wash removes indigo and abrades the twill. Jeans washed weekly look years older than the same pair washed monthly, and the fit degrades faster.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask