Day 251 | Making your mark

Every time I wear my Dr.Denim Harris Blue Black Raw denim jeans, I think back to day 1, when I bought them. They were clean, with not a single mark on them. They fitted really well and the raw denim felt fantastic on my skin. Now they've become more like a second skin on me. They have marks exactly where I bend my knees, where I bend my hips, where my front pocket wallet shows through and where I folded the hems up when they got a bit stretched from six months of wear and were hanging a bit low.

I really love what they feel like on me nowadays, but it needed the six months of wear and a single wash to shrink them to my fit. Isn't it time you make your own marks on a pair of raw denim?

Day 209 | Ink on the floor

I've been going through my photographs and found the one on the left. It's one of the oldest I have, which means the jeans were in their first week of "wear". There's not a mark on the denim yet, and no stretching.

The second photograph is of the ink running from the denim after they were washed for the first time. I was a little nervous on the washing day, because I was scared I would lose too much colour from the jeans. I did not have the washing machine on the spin cycle, so that saved a lot of ink, but there was still a lot of ink on the floor when I took them out. As you can see on day 184, when I compare the jeans before and after the wash, there's not a lot of difference in the darkness of the jeans. So I suspect that I didn't lose too much ink.

On another note, I was trawling through some of my favourite sites and stumbled upon an an article on this book, called "The Denim Book", which is produced by a company called Lightning. You can buy your copy from SuperDenim.co.uk. It's basically a who's who of the Japanese Denim industry. 70 brand owners, designers and retail managers were interviewed and photographed. They presented their favourite vintage to sample denim pieces. The book gives equal space to unknown brands as it does to the well known brands, which is a big change in the story line of previous Lightning books.

Next week I'm comparing the jeans again, but only month one vs. what they'll look like next week. They're still my favourite pair of jeans, but it's been a welcome change to wear my light coloured denims again.

Day 202 | Some more about shrinking

I was wearing these jeans every day for 6 months and writing about it every day, right up until day 195. I then decided to only write about them every week, on Mondays, and it's been so tough. I thought it was going to be easy, to write less, not realising just how much part of my daily life this blog has become. There's still so much to learn, and so many people I meet via this blog, but I have other projects like this, which are now starting to take up a lot more of my time, but more on that, another day.

I was asked in a comment this week just how much the jeans have shrunk, so I thought I'd answer the question in this post. If I was to buy raw denim jeans again, I would make sure that they fit me perfectly around the waste and in length, or perhaps a bit longer. You have no control over how much they will shrink when you wash them the first time, so I wouldn't try and judge the right size by that when I buy new jeans.

The thing with wearing the jeans for 6 months have a lot to do with stretching the denim in all the right places naturally, by just wearing them. When they then shrink, they shrink all over, hence a better fit all over.

Have a look at the two photos of the legs of the jeans, just behind the knees. They are the same size. By that I mean the creases are the same size in all the photos if you were to put them on top of each other, but the width of the legs are narrower in the washed versions on the right. And narrower by a lot. My jeans shrunk by around 2-3 cm all over, which seems like a lot when you look at a new pair, but not so much on a 6 month old pair that's been "worn in" and stretched.

Look at the difference in where the jeans hang over the heels of my shoes in the picture on the left. Photo one is before the wash and photo two is after the wash. They shrunk a lot, but now the length is perfect and I don't have to wear a belt or fold the hems up any more. So to finish off, don't worry about the shrinking when you buy a new pair of jeans, because 6 months is a long time, and a lot still needs to happen before you wash them the first time.

Day 193 | 360 degree before and after

Here's the same photos I posted on day 190, but in higher resolution. You can clearly see how much they shrunk by looking at the length. The top ones are after 6 months of wear and the bottom ones from the day after their first wash.

Just have a look at how stretched the knees were before the wash. They fit much better now. Less creases, less stretches, but more wear and a much better colour.

Day 192 | The back pockets before and after

Here's two more high resolution images comparing the back pockets. I still can't believe there's so much difference in the jeans. The top photo is with 6 months worth of wear and no wash (day 182). The bottom photo is on the following day (day 183), after the wash.

The jeans have even changed colour slightly. They started off as Blue/Black, and now has become a little lighter and bluer. The shrinking has worked wonders. I have them on again today, just because they really are my favourite pair at the moment, having spent a full 6 months in them and nothing else, and they fit perfectly. I would highly recommend doing the same. Not necessarily wearing them every day for 6 months as I did, but alternating between them and maybe 2 other pairs for perhaps a year, then washing them. The fit will be real good.

Day 190 | Before and after

I've always wanted to do a 360 degree display of the jeans. The top row is on the day of the wash and the bottom row is the day after the wash.

You can clearly see how stretched the knees are from 6 months of wear and how much tighter they are after the wash. The same with the wrinkles and creases behind the knees. Now they're just softer folds. The jeans have also shrunk about 2, maybe 3 centimetres in length, so now they're not as bunched up at the bottom above my shoes. In the top photos I have a belt on, where I now wear the jeans without a belt, as I did when I bought them. Then there's also the colouring. Much lighter and tighter and the marks are now much more visible.

Will publish the same sort of photos tomorrow, but much bigger I think.

Day 189 | The button holes (5th comparison)

The buttons holes were last compared on day 160. Since then the jeans have been washed, but for some strange reason you can't see much difference in them. They've always just looked rough and a little unfinished.

In the top photograph, there's seven pictures. Each one from the 6 months of the test. The last picture in the photo is of them after they have been washed. Not much difference, besides for the shine that's on the others.

As always I will attempt my maths sum to see how many times I have opened and closed the buttons till the day they were washed on 183 days. Opening and closing the buttons whilst getting dressed and undressed, at least twice a day, so that is three hundred and sixty six times. Let's average going to the toilet during that time to twice a day, which is open and closed four times a day times hundred and sixty days, gives us seven hundred and thirty two times. Add all of that up, and I have opened and closed the buttons on these jeans about one thousand and ninety eight times during the last hundred and eighty three days. I always thought there would be more wear on the button holes, but just goes to show how well they're made these days.

Tomorrow I'm publishing a 360 degree photo series of the jeans before the wash and after the wash. Then you'll be able to see how they have changed.

Day 187 | The front pockets (5th comparison)

The front pockets for me, show the biggest changes in the jeans. Not just before and after the wash, but since day 1, up until day 183, because of the marks made by my front pocket wallet and the general creases or moustache marks. The pictures in the top two photographs are from the beginning of each of the 6 months and the right hand picture in both is after the first wash.

It's strange to see and feel the difference in the washed denim. It's softer, with more character, yet it shrunk quite a bit. They're by far more comfortable, even though I know they will stretch again from all the wear. Perhaps another wash in 6 months will show other changes. Perhaps a hole or two?

The bottom photo is of my front pocket wallet and the marks it made on the right hand front pocket. I had it in that pocket every day for 6 months. I'm really happy with how they turned out after 6 months and the first wash. Tomorrow I'll compare the bottom hems.

Day 185 | The back pockets (5th comparison)

I wanted to show before and after photographs, but decided to rather carry on with my comparison series, which show the jeans in the process of getting older and older and more worn in. I have now included the comparison from the last day I wore the jeans before the wash, and the first day after the wash. Now there's seven photographs taken on the beginning of every month in the past 6 months.

There's a big difference between the washed and unwashed pair in the last two images. The washed jeans are not as shiny and the creases and folds are now only light blue lines on the washed jeans. The shrinking caused the material to tighten quite a bit. Tomorrow I'll compare the inner seams.

Day 184 | Before and after

Today was the first day that I had the jeans on again after washing them. I have to say that they now fit really well, and very much softer than when I bought them. They shrunk length-wise perhaps 2 centimetres, even though I stretch the seams out directly after the wash. When I have them on without shoes, they hang perfectly just above my ankles. Width-wise they shrunk a bit too, and they now fit better than ever. I do not have to wear a belt any more.

The colouring is also fantastic, because it doesn't seem like I lost too much dye in the wash. As you can see in the top photograph, with a comparison of the last day ,unwashed, and the first day ,washed. You can see that they're narrower around my legs and a bit shorter.

Only on the close-ups can you see that all the shine is gone from 6 months of wear. Over the next couple of days I'm going to do comparisons of them on the last day, unwashed, and the first day, washed.

Day 183 | Wash day

It's finally done. The jeans have been washed for the first time in 6 months. They're still a bit damp, so I'm only taking photographs of them tomorrow.

It was a bit scary at first when I put the jeans in the machine this morning. I can speak a little bit of Swedish and when I selected 30 degrees Celcius, I noticed the word "Ylle" next to it. I didn't know what it meant, and checked the machine to the left of it. That one said "Ylle/Handwash", so I knew it would be something to do with a gentle wash. I had to select the machine to the right, because there was a button where I could switch off "Centrifugering" or spin cycle. I didn't know how to do it on the machine on the left, which was a fancier model. Ylle, I found out later, means wool. So it was a safe choice.

When they came out the machine they were still soaking wet, and I stretched the seams out a bit from the crotch to the hems. This left blue water all over the floor. I rolled them up so I could get them upstairs without messing all over the steps on the way up. I hung them in the shower with the belt loops over a hanger, and left for work.

When I came home this afternoon, they turned out fantastic, but as I said, still a bit damp. I'm wearing them again tomorrow, just to feel how they've changed. I can already see that they're a bit lighter, but look great. The bottom photograph is the last on of me wearing the jeans unwashed. All shiny, oily and worn in.

It did feel weird wearing a different pair of jeans today for the first time in 6 months. It was however my my favourite Evisu/Puma jeans

Day 181 | How to wash your jeans

I have 2 days left, then I've worn these jeans everyday for 6 months. I was contemplating taking a shower with them first, to sort out the shrinking, but I think think I'll settle for 30 degrees Celcius machine wash, with no spin cycle, then stretch them out along the seams and hang them up to dry. Here's how to wash your jeans according to the website Allevol.com.

Washing instruction for raw/dry denim & jeans (wash and care)
"It is often a myth how denim products needs to be washed/treated. There is certainly no "right way" but many different ways, depending on how you prefer your denims to look. Here are some examples."

Denim enthusiast's way - Wear as long as possible, wash as less as possible
"This is the most commonly used technique for denim enthusiasts. Wear rigid-raw dry jeans a minimum of 6months (recommended) everyday, machine wash at 60c inside out without washing powder/liquid, then wear it again for the next 3months, then wash by machine at 30c (less colour fade at 30c than high temperature), dry it by hanging up in the shade where air is flowing."

Japanese magazine way - Wear your jeans and take a bath with it
"This was once introduced in a Japanese fashion magazine. Wear your denim for a few months, the first wash is taking a bath with your jeans in lukewarm water and use a scrubbing brush to create a colour fading effect (mostly the front thigh bit). Dry it by hanging up in the shade where air is flowing."

Japanese denim mania way - Wear your jeans after "the first wash"
"This technique is frequently used by many Japanese denim enthusiasts. Firstly, prepare lukewarm water (between 35c and 45c) in a bucket and put the dry/raw jeans in it for 1hour-2hours (Note 1: please bear in mind that jeans need to be submerged completely in the water. The raw denim jeans contains air which make it float in the bucket. Note 2: Some people add a table spoon of salt, or vinegar in this lukewarm water). Secondly, take the jeans out of the bucket, wash it inside out at 40c without washing powder (please do not long-wash as this damages the fibers of the denim). Dry it by hanging up in the shade where air is flowing. Second wash is preferably after 3-9months of wear."

Natural looking way - Wear and wash as you like
"Wash the jeans at 60c, dry it by hanging up in the direct sunlight (or tumble dry). This will make it completely shrink up to 1-2.5inchs and the jeans will not be as heavily starched. Wear and wash as you like, however, the jeans will not have the strong dense coloured effect achieved in methods 1, 2 and 3."

The above four ways are often used to treat or how to wash dry/raw denims. Allevol's favourite way is method 1. We wear jeans 4-6months. As soon as we see a break-in effect, machine wash at 30c. After that, we wash our jeans at least every month

Day 174 | Tom Ford

One of my favourite designers is Tom Ford. What he's achieved, has been fantastic. Now I know he's not everyone's cup of tea, but you have to admit he's got some style.

The blog world has been abuzz lately with the news that he will be launching a $1000 pair of jeans. Think about it. Nearly 8000kr for a pair of jeans. Now for me it's not so much about the price. OK, maybe a little bit, but it's mostly about how his jeans are made. From Japanese selvedge denim that looks and feels like raw denim, however, they have been pre-washed and pre-shrunken. This means the indigo doesn’t rub off. The seat is distinguished only by a straight stitched line across the pockets. Then there's a small black tab reading TF001 or TF002. Obviously Tom Ford No.1, a boot cut that Ford wears himself and Tom Ford No.2 is a straight-leg cut. The front button is plated with 18-karat gold, and the pockets are lined with silk, the same as Tom wears in his suits. Don't know about the button in gold. I love the button on my jeans that read: "A good pair of jeans is like a member of the family." Feels a bit more personal.

Now to get back to the whole pre-shrunk, pre-washed business. I'm struggling to understand why anyone would go this route with raw denim? Why not buy raw denim, instead of denim that appears to be raw denim. Maybe they do not want to get any indigo on their expensive leather lounge suite at home or the office? Maybe they wash their jeans after every wear in any case and don't care for wearing them in? Perhaps wearing denim for 6 months without washing them is seam to be a little gross? I just don't know. I prefer the idea of wearing my jeans in first, so they have my marks on them, then washing them after six months and letting them shrink for a perfect fit on my body.

What happens with his jeans after they've been worn in and everything is stretched. What then? The owner can't even shrink them in the first wash for a better fit. Perhaps when you're willing to spend $1000 on a pair of jeans you just throw them away when they've stretched too much and get another pair.

Having said all of that, I wouldn't mind a free pair, if anyone is feeling in the mood, you know, just to see what they're all about.

Day 150 | I think I should celebrate

I can't believe I'm on 150 days. Just more than a month left, then I've had these jeans on every day for 6 months, without a wash. I can hear some people saying "gross!", so I decided to look at that a bit.

Jeans smell, if you sweat when you have them on, and don't allow them to dry properly before you wear them again. Most people I know do not wash their jeans after every time they wear them, but wear between 3 to 5 pairs at any given time. This gives each pair of jeans a chance to dry properly, before they wear them again. It doesn't help if you're folding them up after you wear them and putting them back in your clothing cupboard, if they're not completely dry. This will lead to the germs, that cause the smell, to flourish, and that's "gross!". I wear this one pair all the time, and I take extra care to hang them up every night, and they're completely dry the next day. No smell, hence no "gross!".

The smell is not the only reason it may be "gross!". You also have to consider normal dirt, stains and such. Here there's no help other than dry-cleaning or just self cleaning them as much as possible when it happens. But so far I've kept them fairly clean, and completely smell free. Today however is day 150, and I think I should celebrate.

Day 149 | Raw denim

I think I've finally made up my mind, that I'm going to not wash these jeans after 6 months, but wait a full year, or 365 days. Most people I've spoken to, who seem to know a lot about denim, (Mark from Oneculture) advised me that a year would be much better. I just need to consider if I'll be wearing them every day or every other day, during the second 6 months.

Apparently I'll lose too much of the creases and such if I washed them after only 6 months. Here's some questions and answers I found in a Mens' Health magazine, on raw denim.

Raw denim: Dark, unprocessed monochromatic denim that looks like it just rolled off the loom.

Prow: According to Jeff Shafer, owner of Agave Denimsmith, Raw Denim is incredibly rugged. Meaning the denim is in it’s purest form

Cons: It has stiff fabric therefore you have to break it in by wearing it many time before you’d feel comfortable in them. Watch out for waistline fluctuation caused by it’s rigidity.

Care: Washing machine and dryer is not good for Raw Denim. These process will cause for the dye to bleed, hence the fading of the denim. Shafer highly suggests wearing ‘em until they stink and then dry-clean only.

Best for: Lean body type

Avoid if: Travelling or if you expect your jeans to be comfy right away.

Day 148 | Not all denims are equal

Following up on yesterday's interview on AskMen.com, I found this answer particularly interesting, just because the jeans I'm wearing and testing at the moment is raw denim.

What about the raw denim trend that’s in style right now? Is there a difference in quality between these jeans that you’re not supposed to wash for months and washed denim?

"Denim is denim; not all denims are equal, but no matter what pair of jeans you have at some point or another it started off as raw denim. So, with raw denim, what you’re really doing is eliminating the washing, which should decrease the price of the denim as a general rule."

"But with regards to your question, right now the raw denim is just a trend; it’s like anything else. The market is so inundated with denim from European brands, American brands and Canadian brands that one company from another needs to try to differentiate itself by trying new things or starting a new trend. Everything in fashion is very cyclical. We had a raw denim craze about five or six years ago, then it faded out a little bit, then it came into washed denim, dirty denim, ripped denim embellished denim, and now it’s coming back to the traditional raw denim feel. I just hope acid-wash denim never comes back!"

Does raw denim really allow you to personalize your jeans the way it’s marketed?

"Yes and no. It’s a very short-lived thing. If you take a pair of raw denim and you wear them, they’ll conform to your body and your movements, so you’ll get certain stretched pressure points in your knees and your thighs and bum, but the minute you wash them you will lose most of that personal effect and you’ll have to start [reforming them] all over again. But technically, if you wore the jeans and left the denim and you never washed it -- which would be kind of gross -- they would eventually fade out and they would be totally customized to your body."

It's this last answer that has me considering lengthening my test from 6 months to a full year. Just because I might lose too much in the wash after 6 months, than I might in a year. We'll see.

Day 141 | 6 months to a year

Now that I've reached 141 days, or 20 weeks, I've started contemplating if i shouldn't perhaps extend the test from 6 months to a year. I've been reading some other blogs too, where the writers have worn their jeans for a full year without washing. A big difference for me is that I haven't found anyone else who has worn their jeans every day. Most changed denim every day, and wore between 3 and 4 different pairs in that time.

So all in all, 6 months of daily wear seems to beat 1 year of periodic wear. Or does it? Does the denim change more the other way around? Does the cotton change somehow more in a year? If I carry on with the test after March the 3rd, when I was suppose to wash them the first time, I will still aim to wear them every day. That would be something. Wearing the same pair of jeans for a year without washing. So far they don't smell at all, because I'm very careful to ensure they dry out properly every night. I might however cut down on blogging every day to once a week. Any suggestions?

Day 127 | Where to from here?

I've been thinking about this experiment or test of mine for a while now, and trying to figure out what to do with it, or more importantly where to go from here. I've always wanted to do something like this, but never planned it properly. It all started so fast from day one when I bought these jeans. I always had 6 months in mind, but recently I've been thinking if that's long enough.

Got some friends who say it should perhaps be longer than 6 months, perhaps a year, then there's others who say it's ok with 6 months. Then there's a third group who think it's gross to not wash your jeans. I'm ignoring group three and focussing on the first two. For now the plan is to wash these jeans for the first time on the 3rd of March. The washing in itself is another question I have to still answer. How will I wash them? Dr.Denim actually recommends washing your jeans in 30°. And we're talking about degrees Celsius in this instance, with no spin cycle, then just hanging them up to dry. Perhaps in the drying closet or our shower. There's going to be a lot of dyerunning out after the first wash and I don't want that all over the floor.

If this was your test, what would you do? How long would you still go and in the end, how would you wash them?

Day 117 | I cannot believe it has been this long

I am really astonished at how time has flown by since I bought these jeans on day 1. 117 days already with just 64 more days left, then I can throw them in the washing machine for their first wash, and see them shrink, to provide me with that perfect fit. Or so I hope anyway.

Now that I'm back home, I've been searching the internet for some advice on how to get snow, mixed with mud and sand, off a pair denims, as I needed to know do on day 114, when my "parents in law's" car was stuck in the snow, and I got caught in the spray of a spinning front wheel. I did manage to get most of it off with a damp sponge, without removing too much dye, but if you look carefully, you can still see some traces of the dirt.

The online advice was not really helpful, because everyone suggested waiting for the mud to dry, and then throwing them into the wash. That is exactly what I cannot do for the next 64 days, or until the 3rd of March, because of the test, which requires no wash for six months. Perhaps tomorrow I will just do one more clean with another damp sponge, and hopefully not remove too much dye in the process.

Day 92 | The front pockets (2nd comparison)

Today I compare the front pockets. A lot more creases and by far more marks everywhere. The main changes are the creases from sitting in front of my laptop everyday, in the places where my hips bend. It's like my jeans are permanently moulded into that "sitting" shape, even when I take them off. The pictures on the left in the two top photographs is from day 14 and the middle pictures from day 59 and the right side picture is from today.

There's plenty of light blue marks from the wear on the button holes as well, and as I mentioned on day 90, a lot more shiny from not having been washed for 92 days. Will be interesting to see how shiny they'll become after the full six months with no wash.

I spoke about my front pocket wallet on day 33, and showed photos of the marks it usually makes on all my jeans. The bottom photograph show what the mark looks like at the moment on these jeans. Much more visible than on day 59. Tomorrow I compare the bottom hems.