Use the Delicate or Gentle cycle Denim may seem like a tough fabric, but that doesn't mean you should choose a Heavy Duty wash cycle. Instead, opt for the Delicate or Gentle cycle, and use cold water to help avoid shrinking or fading.
Heavy Duty: Select this setting to wash towels and sturdy fabrics like jeans. It is also appropriate for heavily soiled items. The cycle offers a longer wash cycle with high-speed agitation and a high-speed spin to remove as much moisture as possible.
We recommend setting your wash cycle to the gentle or delicate setting to reduce wear and tear on the fabric.
Don't machine wash your jeans together with your regular clothes on the normal cycle. Wash them separately on a Delicates or even Hand Wash cycle with a mild detergent like Woolite for Darks or Perwoll Black (unless you live on a farm and get lots of stains that require a heavy duty detergent of course).
Aside from hand washing, washing jeans on gentle is the best way to preserve their original color and appearance for as long as possible. Always wash your jeans with cold water, unless you're washing white denim, in which case you can use warm water on the same short, gentle cycle.
If you choose to clean your jeans in the washing machine, use cold water on a short, Delicate cycle. If you are washing your jeans by hand, use cold water in the sink or bathtub and lay them down flat. Then, rinse them thoroughly with cold water so the water runs clear, ensuring that all the suds are washed out.
When you put jeans in the dryer, always use a low heat setting. High temperatures can cause shrinkage, damage the fabric, and lead to faster fading. Take your jeans out of the dryer while they're still slightly damp. This helps prevent over-drying and makes it easier to smooth out any wrinkles.
Dry clothes can become stiff for many reasons. These include the fabric not being properly rinsed during your laundry load and using too much detergent which can leave behind residue on your clothing, making the fabric stiff.
Washing: Jeans and jeans go hand in hand
The machine should not be too full to avoid severe wrinkles - a moderate spin speed of 800 or 1000 revolutions is also helpful for this. Washing several pieces of jeans together prevents them from staining other textiles.
When washing new denim, turn them inside out and zip up the zipper, use cold water, select a gentle cycle, and air dry.
A detergent like Tide plus a Touch of Downy helps improve the quality of your jeans by trimming down stray fibers, and protects them from discoloration, pilling, and fading. Make sure to only wash your jeans with other deep-colored clothing.
Air drying jeans can take anywhere from a couple of hours outdoors in the sun to a full day or more indoors during cold or humid weather. If you're in a pinch and need to speed the process along, run your jeans through the dryer on low heat until they're nearly dry, but not overheated.
Put your trousers in a mesh laundry bag as they help protect delicate fabrics if you have a mixed laundry load. Then throw them in the washing machine. Use mild laundry detergent and turn the washing machine on the gentlest cycle with cold water. Wait for the cycle to end, and you're sorted!
Wash on a Delicate Cycle
Set your washing machine on its delicate cycle and wash jeans with cold water. Ideally, you should wash jeans separately or with similarly dark-colored clothes. This step is key to avoid shrinking or bleeding.
Select the temperature based on the contents of the load: for whites, select hot water; for colors, select cool or warm. Keep in mind that cotton and synthetic towels of any color will get the cleanest when washed in warm to hot water.
The Heavy Duty washing machine cycle uses hot water and high spin speed for thick, heavily-soiled fabrics, like towels and jeans. Loads washed in this cycle may take longer because these items tend to absorb more water than other types of fabrics.
However, if your washing machine doesn't come with an eco-friendly setting, then you would be better off washing your clothes on a standard setting, which will often mean having it on a spin speed of between 1200 rpm and 1600 rpm.
A good rule of thumb is to wash your jeans after every 3-10 wears, or when they start to smell. If you're regularly active in your jeans (think: manual work, anything where you work up a sweat), wash them every 3 wears, but if you're working at a desk, you can probably go through multiple wears without washing.
The short answer is yes, you can tumble dry your jeans in your everyday tumble dryer. But you should always take care to check the label to be absolutely sure – advice that it's best to follow for all of your clothing, whatever their material.
If you have everyday (inexpensive) denim and don't want to pay a dry cleaner, then wash them inside out in cold water and add a full cup of white vinegar to the washing machine. The vinegar with hold the color dye in the fabric and will act like a natural fabric softener.
Set Dryer to Low or Medium Heat and Gentle Cycle
The heat from dryers is damaging to denim, so set your dryer to low or medium heat on a gentle cycle. Pause the dryer 75% through the cycle to check on your denim and feel if the jeans are nearly dried. Jeans that are hot in the dryer have been in there for too long.
New or old, you should always turn jeans inside out before placing them in the washing machine. This helps minimize the abrasion that causes fading as well as the wear that can happen along the hems, pockets, and fly and waistband edges.
Turn your jeans inside out! Put the jeans in the washing machine and select a 'delicate' programme with a spin cycle of 900 rpm*** or less. Add an appropriate amount of non-bleach liquid detergent**.