What Happens When You Wash Jeans 2.5x More Often?
A side-by-side comparison of the two exactly same pairs after 250 wears.
Not only did enthusiastically wearing jeans for 15 years allow me to clearly identify the things I love about raw denim and speak about the aspects they don’t tell you about, but it also gave me the privilege to experiment with fabrics, brands, wear habits (including taking a bath in a brand-new pair of jeans), and even deeper intricacies, such as the subtle art of roping. In this article, I compare how different frequencies of machine washing have affected the fading of the same pair of TCB 50’s Regular jeans after 250 wears.
Washing jeans is one of the most debated and mythologized topics in the denim community. When I first got into denim, the gold standard was to wear your jeans as long as possible without washing them to achieve high contrast fades. I did this too, and my very first pair even made it to Fade Friday.
Over time, the winds have changed. Nerding out about denim has become uncool, while ocean washing and keeping jeans in a freezer were proclaimed ridiculous, if not shameful. By now, I feel like the online community has made peace with all the different ways to wear and care for denim, and virtually anything is acceptable as long as you don’t take it too seriously. Or maybe I’m just justifying that time I had to wear wet jeans over sweatpants.
Anyway, in the last five years, I’ve started to wash my jeans much more often. Mainly because I want to achieve a vintage, washed-out look naturally, instead of purchasing industrially distressed denim. With all my previous pairs, I had to retire them when there was still a good amount of indigo left — mostly because they shrunk either too short or too tight. They say that washing clothes regularly is better for hygiene, too.
Comparison
Here are my two pairs of TCB 50’s Regular jeans. They are completely identical and have both been worn 250 times. The only difference is that I washed the first pair approximately every 15 wears, while the second pair saw the washing machine about every six wears.
For the record, I wash my jeans inside out at 30° C, using either a regular cotton cycle (which typically runs for 2–2.5 hours) or a rapid wash (about 30 minutes), depending on how dirty they feel. I don’t have a strong preference when it comes to laundry detergent and use any non-color-specific liquid option, such as Ecover, Persil, BioMio, or Frosch.
Not much difference, huh? Well, I am as surprised as you are. The second pair has been washed 2.5 times more frequently, but the resulting fade is pretty much the same. If only I had known this five years ago, I would have thought of something more radical to show you now. But since we’re already here, let’s try to figure out if there is anything different between the two pairs.
The pair on the left, with less frequent washes, has some signs of a honeycomb pattern under the knees, while on the right pair, it’s completely missing. This suggests that the denim had developed some creases during the first 15 days of wear, whereas five days before the first wash wasn’t enough.
Looking at the right back pocket, again, we can see that the wallet fade is more pronounced on the pair with less frequent washes, even though it’s the same wallet and it goes into that pocket every time I wear the jeans.
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Another difference is so small you can only notice it if you zoom in. The top line of stitching on the left pair’s pocket is completely gone, while it's still somewhat holding on the right — although torn in every other stitch.
They say that regular washing prevents bacteria and prolongs the life of fabric. Well, this seems to hold true for this particular cotton thread!
Another interesting fact is that the paper patch on the less frequently washed pair has cracked in several places, while it’s still intact on the other one. That said, more washes have led to more color loss. I wonder why it doesn’t work the same way for the indigo in this denim.
On both pairs, the bottom right corner of the left back pocket has come off because of the cotton thread wearing through. But more frequent washes on the right caused the pocket fabric to unravel and fringe.
While we are still looking at the left back pockets of my jeans, notice how the denim on the right features a more contrasty, almost lightning bolt-like fading pattern. I assume this is due to the twisting and turning during more frequent machine washing. The difference in fades is even more pronounced in these photographs below.
Looking at the right front pockets, I can’t say that more frequent washing helped the cotton thread holding the pocket bags stand the test of time. Unfortunately, the pocket bags are gone on both pairs.
You can hardly see it in the photos above, but the hole from the AirPods case in the coin pocket on the less frequently washed pair is twice as big as the one on the other pair.
I didn’t expect anything when I was turning the jeans inside out, but surprisingly, there is much more difference in color than on the outside. The less frequently washed pair appears more greenish, while the other pair is all whites and blues. More washes made the denim look cleaner. This difference is hardly noticeable in the previous photographs due to the quality of my phone camera, but it’s there.
This last photo is the best one I have to show you the difference in hue of the faded denim. The top pair is a bit greenish and appears dirtier than the other one. It’s almost like bleeding indigo stains the fabric before completely running off. You can also see this in the pocket bags: notice how clean the white of the bottom one is compared to the indigo-stained top one. Honestly, I love the cleaner hue more.
Conclusion
Generally, washing your jeans 2.5 times more frequently doesn’t make much difference in fades at the 250-wear mark. Maybe it will further down the road — we’ll see. More frequent washing seems to prolong the life of some elements, like the paper patch on the back. But it’s clearly not enough to save functional ones, like the cotton threads holding the front pocket bags, from extensive abrasion.
Where more washes do make a difference is in an overall cleaner shade of indigo and higher-contrast fades caused by twisting and turning in the washing machine. This gives me the feel of naturally faded vintage denim, which I pursue and enjoy.
If you have any questions or feel like something is missing or just want to say this is crazy, please don't hesitate to jump to the comments section of this article. Let’s trip out together.
Also, I would greatly appreciate it if you could share the article with your friends and those who might dig it — on Reddits, group chats, and forums. Hitting a ❤️ and restacking it on Substack is huge help and motivation, too!
And if you like further reading, here is a selection of some of my favorite articles:
Big Dawg, I just stumbled upon this post. This is one of the more fascinating breakdowns over time I've read recently. This is the type of scientific research that I want to see in the world.
Awesome stuff!
I like the look and feel of minimally washed denim. It develops a patina. Sort of like only washing your hair when it needs it.