Here we go with the knees before and after the wash. This is the front. Three things are very clear. For one the stretching in the knees after 6 months of wear. The second thing is the colouration after the wash and thirdly there's the shinyness of the jeans, on the left, after 6 months of wear.
I love the way the folds are so clear on the left, but after the wash they're just marks on the denim. It's why I do these tests.
After shrinking occurs from the first wash, do the faded creases still naturally line up in the right places?
ReplyDeleteThanks
Hi Doug. Interesting question. I've never thought about it in that way, but i would say the short answer is yes. The shrinking happens proportionally and is at most about 5%. Which means top to bottom front to back all the same. The marks are actually there because of wear so that's where the denim is weakest and it's always going to fold and crease in the same place. With 'movement' up or down because of shrinking those same marks will only get marginally wider if at all.
ReplyDeleteI had a look at my original test pair of Terence and they've been washed twice now in 3 years and is worn out with a few fixes here and there and I could notice any changes to the knees. After their next wash I'll compare them to old photos and see if you have a point there. As said, good question.
Okay! Thanks Darryl
ReplyDeleteI just bought my first pair and ran across this blog. So with my pair--indigo dye is rubbing off of everything! My hands, my leather seats in the car, the inside back part of my shirt, my white converses. How did you deal with this?
ReplyDeleteHi Ben
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is ouch.
I got a ton of posts on my white/blue collection. In a nutshell, you just got to live with it. It's part and parcel of wearing in raw denim jeans. But having said that, one starts to get used to it and finds ways to live with it.
I've done two 6 month, wear everyday tests with my jeans and in that time I've realised a few things. Don't wear white items you care about. I started wearing darker shirts. Sitting on a blanket on my white sofa. And especially when you visit your girlfriend' place to watch out what you do. Making out on her bed's white sheets is not a good idea in your jeans and neither is removing your jeans and saying you're doing it because you're thinking of her. If you're married, then raw denim is not wise decision, period.
So be careful with the raw denim. If it's your first pair, you'll learn along the way as they say.
Thanks for sharing the pics of jeans before and after wash. Those pictures shows the quality of jeans.
ReplyDeleteHi Darryl,
ReplyDeleteregarding the pictures:
- what kind of detergent do you used?
Almost all detergents contain optical brighteners. And optical brighteners are working very hard on already scraped out areas like your creases.
Additionally it seems that the jeans had a coating before, thats why it was shinning, right?
I'll post some pictures on the detergent I use. But it's always un-perfumed. Don't like smelling like roses.
ReplyDeleteNo, there's no coating on the denim before. 180 days of wear, sweat, dirt, sweat, dirt makes for a very shiny layer indeed. Hence it's important for the jeans to dry properly before you wear them.
That is the beauty of denim. the more you wear, the more personal the jeans get to your every day life and it reflects your lifestyle. That's why denim is so amazing. Also the marks on the knees that look like whiskers are called also knee bursts and on the inner thigh the marks are called chevrons. Those marks occur because of the natural way the fabric folds in every day movement. Every denim usually has different casts so the color will very in time. That's the true beauty of denim.
ReplyDeleteThanks Johnny S. I'll start referring to them as whiskers, bursts and Chevrons.
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