The unwashed truth is that many jeans wearers have differing opinions on how often jeans should be washed.
An icon in the world of denim, Levi Strauss CEO Charles Bergh, recently weighed in on the jeans debate in an interview with CNBC.
Bergh is largely to blame for fueling the longstanding debate after a talk with Fortune Magazine in 2014 when he said he had not washed one of his favorite pairs of jeans in a washing machine for over a year.
“If you talk to real denim aficionados, they’ll tell you, ‘Don’t wash your blue jeans,'” he said at the time.
Clarifying his past remarks, Bergh said that what he really meant was that people should avoid using a washing machine to clean their jeans as denim fibers can be worn down by frequent machine washing. The shape and color can also be negatively affected.
Moreover, washing machines tend to use a great deal of water, roughly 20 gallons per load. The denim industry also uses plenty of water to make jeans, with a single pair of Levi’s 501 requiring over 998 gallons of water to produce. Nearly 92% of the water usage comes from the need to irrigate cotton crops.
For all these reasons, Bergh recommended people wash their jeans in the shower by simply wearing them and cleaning them with a bar of soap.
A viral TikTok video showed that washing jeans with soap in the shower can also help loosen pairs that are too tight.
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Other users posted videos showing the results.
@gail_forcewinds13 Instead of spending money on another pie of jeans I figured I would give the shower method a try. Let’s see if this clothing hack will make these jeans fit better on my body. #theshowermethod #hacksforbetterfittingjeans #showerinyourjeans #easyclothinghacks #whenyourclothesaretoosmall #clothesaremadetofityou
Bergh recommended spot-cleaning jeans as much as possible before going for an all-out wash.
“If I drop some curry on my jeans, I’m gonna clean it. But I’ll spot-clean it. And if they get really gross you know, if I’ve been out sweating or something and they get really gross, I’ll wash them in the shower,” he said, according to CNBC.
There are some international differences in habit at play, with Americans tending to overwash their jeans.
“People tend to over wash and ‘over hygiene’ themselves because, especially in America, we have a luxury of being able to do all that stuff all the time,” said Dr. Anthony Rossi, a dermatologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, CNN reported.
While under-washing garments or bedding that has become saturated in sweat can lead to infections, fungus, and other skin issues, over-washing can be wasteful and detrimental to fabric fibers.
“As far as your pants and your shirts, I think it’s all a level of comfort and how much you’re perspiring throughout the day,” Rossi said.
“I personally don’t wash my jeans,” he added.