I’ve read that the CEO of Levi’s recommends washing jeans very infrequently.
Won’t they smell? I have a pretty clean white-collar lifestyle, but I’m concerned about wearing mine even once or twice between machine washing. Is it considered socially acceptable to re-wear jeans?
I’ve found the results are very different between living in a hot city and a cold city. When I lived in a hot, coastal city, I was never able to rewear anything; in my current cold city I can (theoretically, mind you) go days without a shower.
Not sure if it’s in addition to what you’re thinking of or it is what you’re thinking of, but Tommy Hilfiger ‘never’ ‘washes his Levis’. I heard this and confirmed with a fashion- and clothing-conscious friend that they (the friend) had tried it. I used to wash jeans and chinos after a few consecutive days of wearing them. For the past five or six weeks I’ve been trying out the ‘no wash’ approach. I wore one pair of jeans for about thirty five days (maybe split into two periods of continuous wearing) and washed them probably once or never during that time. So far as I could tell they did not smell anywhere near enough to be offensive, and I only stopped wearing them because I got too small for them. This included doing some form of exercise like pushups, circuits, or timed runs at the track in the jeans (and then not showering for a few hours afterwards) on most days.
After those jeans I’ve been wearing the same pair of chinos for eight days and they seem to be fine. It’s worth giving a try to see if it works for you too, in your circumstances. It is very plausible that climate, bathing frequency, sensitivity to own sweat, sensitivity to laundry products, underpants use etc. provide enough variation between people that doing it is a no-brainer for some and not doing it is probably right for others.
During this period, before showering each night, I take the trousers off, shake them off, then (assuming I don’t have any reason to think the outside of them had accumulated much ickiness during that day) drape them inside out over a chair, which hopefully lets them air out and let moisture evaporate off. (In fact, I now do this with most of my clothes, and it seems like it might indeed make them smell fresher for longer.)
Most jeans you aren’t supposed to wash too often, since it can make them fade and wear out faster, but you still want to wash them when they seem dirty like when you spill on them, get really sweaty in them, or if they smell. I wash mine every 3-5 wears which seems to be a good amount.
If you’re wearing raw denim, you’re not supposed to wash your jeans at all but raw denim is kind of a niche thing anyways.
I can see how freezing might help with smell, but what confuses me is sweat. If I wear pants more than about 4 times in a row, they start to itch, and I don’t see how freezing would help with that. I don’t think I sweat unusually much.
I wondered about this too before I tried it. I thought I had a higher-than-average risk of being very sensitive to my own perspirations/sheddings. But I haven’t detected any significant problems on this front after trying it. It goes both ways: Now I know that I’m not very sensitive to my own trouser sweat, it means I can wear trousers longer after they’ve been washed (i.e. exposed to potentially irritant laundry products), which possibly reduces the risk of skin problems from the laundry products (another problem that I think I have a higher-than-average chance of having; the two aren’t mutually exclusive).
(Insert disclaimer about this maybe being very dependent on lots of factors, e.g. maybe I’ll move to another city with an imperceptibly different climate and get screwed over by wearing jeans for more than a day.)
When it comes to sweat different people have different issues.
I remember that the once I gave a PowerPoint Karaoke in front of maybe 80 people at my university. Afterwards I smelt really badly because of stress induced smell.
On the other hand I can dance Salsa and my clothes are wet from sweat because I move that intensely. In my experience that doesn’t lead to clothes that stink the next day.
Some nerdy people with high level of social anxiety sweat more smelly than average.
The only way to know surely whether something smells in a socially unacceptable way is to ask other people. I for example trust my mother to give me honest answers to that question.
But you can use any friends for that purpose that you trust to give honest answer and that have decent social skills.
It might also be worth to get opinions from multiple people, as people’s smell receptors differ. Androstenone for example smells musky and pleasant to some people and bad to others.
It also depends on the jeans. Some jeans are, for some reason, more likely to smell after being worn just once. I have no idea why, but several people I know have corroborated this independently.
One thing that can affect this is the material used in the jeans. Typically, a lot of synthetic fabrics tend to start smelling more easily, while wool and silk are known for being naturally odor resistant. This can vary some, but it’s a good general guideline.
I’ve read that the CEO of Levi’s recommends washing jeans very infrequently.
Won’t they smell? I have a pretty clean white-collar lifestyle, but I’m concerned about wearing mine even once or twice between machine washing. Is it considered socially acceptable to re-wear jeans?
I’ve found the results are very different between living in a hot city and a cold city. When I lived in a hot, coastal city, I was never able to rewear anything; in my current cold city I can (theoretically, mind you) go days without a shower.
I usually wear jeans about three, sometimes four, times between washes. I haven’t noticed any smell, and haven’t heard any complaints either.
Not sure if it’s in addition to what you’re thinking of or it is what you’re thinking of, but Tommy Hilfiger ‘never’ ‘washes his Levis’. I heard this and confirmed with a fashion- and clothing-conscious friend that they (the friend) had tried it. I used to wash jeans and chinos after a few consecutive days of wearing them. For the past five or six weeks I’ve been trying out the ‘no wash’ approach. I wore one pair of jeans for about thirty five days (maybe split into two periods of continuous wearing) and washed them probably once or never during that time. So far as I could tell they did not smell anywhere near enough to be offensive, and I only stopped wearing them because I got too small for them. This included doing some form of exercise like pushups, circuits, or timed runs at the track in the jeans (and then not showering for a few hours afterwards) on most days.
After those jeans I’ve been wearing the same pair of chinos for eight days and they seem to be fine. It’s worth giving a try to see if it works for you too, in your circumstances. It is very plausible that climate, bathing frequency, sensitivity to own sweat, sensitivity to laundry products, underpants use etc. provide enough variation between people that doing it is a no-brainer for some and not doing it is probably right for others.
During this period, before showering each night, I take the trousers off, shake them off, then (assuming I don’t have any reason to think the outside of them had accumulated much ickiness during that day) drape them inside out over a chair, which hopefully lets them air out and let moisture evaporate off. (In fact, I now do this with most of my clothes, and it seems like it might indeed make them smell fresher for longer.)
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=tommy+hilfiger+wash+jeans http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2459720/Tommy-Hilfiger-thinks-crazy-throw-jeans-laundry-wear.html
Most jeans you aren’t supposed to wash too often, since it can make them fade and wear out faster, but you still want to wash them when they seem dirty like when you spill on them, get really sweaty in them, or if they smell. I wash mine every 3-5 wears which seems to be a good amount.
If you’re wearing raw denim, you’re not supposed to wash your jeans at all but raw denim is kind of a niche thing anyways.
I can see how freezing might help with smell, but what confuses me is sweat. If I wear pants more than about 4 times in a row, they start to itch, and I don’t see how freezing would help with that. I don’t think I sweat unusually much.
I wondered about this too before I tried it. I thought I had a higher-than-average risk of being very sensitive to my own perspirations/sheddings. But I haven’t detected any significant problems on this front after trying it. It goes both ways: Now I know that I’m not very sensitive to my own trouser sweat, it means I can wear trousers longer after they’ve been washed (i.e. exposed to potentially irritant laundry products), which possibly reduces the risk of skin problems from the laundry products (another problem that I think I have a higher-than-average chance of having; the two aren’t mutually exclusive).
(Insert disclaimer about this maybe being very dependent on lots of factors, e.g. maybe I’ll move to another city with an imperceptibly different climate and get screwed over by wearing jeans for more than a day.)
When it comes to sweat different people have different issues.
I remember that the once I gave a PowerPoint Karaoke in front of maybe 80 people at my university. Afterwards I smelt really badly because of stress induced smell.
On the other hand I can dance Salsa and my clothes are wet from sweat because I move that intensely. In my experience that doesn’t lead to clothes that stink the next day.
Some nerdy people with high level of social anxiety sweat more smelly than average.
The only way to know surely whether something smells in a socially unacceptable way is to ask other people. I for example trust my mother to give me honest answers to that question. But you can use any friends for that purpose that you trust to give honest answer and that have decent social skills.
It might also be worth to get opinions from multiple people, as people’s smell receptors differ. Androstenone for example smells musky and pleasant to some people and bad to others.
Who knows if this really works, but the Levi’s Vice President of Women’s Design recommends leaving your jeans in the freezer overnight once a month (to kill smelly bacteria).
The USA puts a pretty unique emphasis on not smelling, so this might be a cultural difference if their upbringing wasn’t in the US.
That’s the upper-class British thing, see Orwell :-)
It also depends on the jeans. Some jeans are, for some reason, more likely to smell after being worn just once. I have no idea why, but several people I know have corroborated this independently.
One thing that can affect this is the material used in the jeans. Typically, a lot of synthetic fabrics tend to start smelling more easily, while wool and silk are known for being naturally odor resistant. This can vary some, but it’s a good general guideline.