We're Not Making This Up: Caring For Blue Jeans, The OCD Way

The Luxurist was  surprised to learn that the pros don't throw their dirty blue jeans in the washer and dryer, as we mere luxurists  do.


These care tips, from Carl Chiara, a Levis executive, appeared a while back in The Wall St. Journal:

• Rarely wash them, and never in a washing machine. That causes the cotton fibers to bloom and then tense up. (Tense jeans, that's a no-no!)
• Tossing them in the dryer will shrink and fade your jeans. (This part, we understand.)
• Never dry clean your jeans. It makes them stiff.
• Spot clean with a sponge, as necessary. (A clean sponge, of course. Not the one you use to wipe down your kitchen counters. But you knew this already.)
• Every six months, lay them flat in a tub with about six inches of room temperature water and a couple of teaspoons of mild liquid soap.
• Add about one-eighth cup of white vinegar to set the color and prevent fading
• Soak for 20 minutes. Do not agitate. (We repeat: do not agitate!)
• Dry flat. When almost dry, put them on and sit in the sun so the jeans take on the shape of your body.
• At the end of the day, hang your jeans by their belt loops.

Who knew!