LS&Co.; Unzipped
Sep 03 2010
Wash My Jeans? Hardly.
If you hate doing laundry, you may want to limit the bottom half of your wardrobe to blue jeans…and follow Carl Chiara’s credo: The less you wash your jeans, the better your jeans become.
Carl – pictured below -- and his laissez faire approach to denim care were featured in yesterday’s “Tricks of the Trade” column in The Wall Street Journal. (Business news, financial updates and, now, fashion tips. Who knew?)
Carl’s the director of brand projects and special projects for Levi’s® brand, so when it comes to blue jeans, he speaks with some authority!
As he told reporter Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, “he doesn’t like to put his jeans in a washing machine because agitating the denim can make the fabric swell and ‘bloom.’”
The yarns can “tense up and actually get shorter, shrinking the jeans.”
So how does he keep them fresh? Would you believe spot-cleaning with a damp sponge and “whatever is under the kitchen sink – usually Windex or 409.”
After six months of wearing them, Carl told the Journal, he’ll fill a bathtub to about six-inches with room-temperature water and add two tablespoons of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Liquid Soap. He’ll let them soak for 20 minutes before hanging them by a belt loop to dry.
The article features additional tips from Carl, including putting a “woodsy” potpourri sachet into the pocket while the jeans dry.
Why didn’t I think of that?
By simply reading this article, my laundry chores tonight have been cut in half. And I've saved energy, as well, reducing my carbon footprint.
I wonder if Carl’s approach applies to denim tops, as well…
Posted By: Cory Warren, Editor, LS&Co.; Unzipped |
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You know our product – particularly Levi’s® and Dockers® – but we’re betting there’s a lot about Levi Strauss & Co. you don’t know.
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vedvyas (not verified) - Sep 07 2010
great post
Levi Waters (not verified) - Sep 04 2010
Do they still "fade away much bluer than the sky"?
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