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.
