Comments on: Fashion Gripes: Having to handwash jeans. And everything else.

By: Hoshi

Hoshi — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 04:22:39 +0000

One fabulous word- Talbots. Their jeans are high quality, fit like a charm, and machine wash so well you can hardly tell the difference. (They are, however, a tad pricey. Which is the reason I only have one pair.)

By: Cadi

Cadi — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 02:43:19 +0000

Woolite for darks works great for me. I also iron the jeans first, or give them a trip through the dryer, solo, on hot. Helps set the dye.

By: Kerry

Kerry — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:56:19 +0000

Try washing your jeans in heavily salted water. It’s supposed to set the dye. I’ve also heard that soaking in dilute vinegar works the same.
After that, you can wash them normally.

By: margaret

margaret — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:23:57 +0000

I’ve only owned one pair of black jeans in my life, and they looked washed-out after a few turns in the washer. That’s why I’d much rather buy a nice pair of black cotton pants or other fabric that holds the dye. (I’m a mom, too, and I just can’t handle clothes that need any sort of special treatment.)

By: Helen

Helen — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:01:48 +0000

No, I don’t hand-wash my jeans. I can handle dark grey, it doesn’t look half bad on jeans. I do hand-wash all items that contain both black and white parts, however, because otherwise it would soon be a combination of black and grey. Underwear is the worst in that matter, but I have learned my lesson and try to avoid buying knickers that are black with white trimmings, however adorable they look.

By: Miss Britt

Miss Britt — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:10:17 +0000

I wash them – but I don’t dry them. I find that the drying does a lot more damage to the denim than the washing.
OH – and I wash them inside out, cold water, blah blah blah – but it’s the inside out that does the most good.

By: The Fashion Police

The Fashion Police — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:00:16 +0000

Kate – it happens with boot cuts, too for me! I don’t think it has anything to do with the cut of the jean, it’s the dark wash that causes the problem.
It is a hugely tedious procedure, and I have to admit that I usually try to avoid buying clothes that need to be pampered (and I avoid dry clean only items like the plague – I just can’t be bothered with the expense and the hassle of it) but the jeans I can’t avoid. I AM very bad at washing things in general, though. This is why almost all of my knickers are grey.

By: Kate

Kate — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:55:24 +0000

I’ve got no qualms about hand washing things when necesasry–wool sweaters, my own handknits, etc.–but jeans? Nuh uh!
It helps that I’m not so fashion-forward as to own (much less wear) black skinny jeans. Boot-cut Levis all the way!

By: cristina

cristina — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:16:50 +0000

I just throw it in the washer. If it’s not tough enough to survive the washing machine, I don’t want to own it, (also gives me an excuse to buy more clothes).
About the dying thing, when I first moved to Europe from Australia a year ago, I kept cross dying all sorts of things even clothes that had never dyed on me before in Oz. I can’t figure out if it’s the machine, the powder, the water or some other factor. I gave up trying to sort out that riddle and blessed with the fact that I have a very small washer and a very large wardrobe I’ve learnt to be very specific about separating my colours.

By: heather

heather — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:06:08 +0000

Snort! No. I have had this issue with clothes before and refuse to wear something I can’t through in the washer (all right–I am a mom of three and work from home–as much as I love fashion I cannot justify coddling a pair of jeans or any other article of clothing for that matter.) That said you may want to check out this site http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/FAQ/settingdye.shtml which has explanations about clothes that bleed and what to do about it. It isn’t that encouraging but it may help. I know I have found that several of the clothes I got that did bleed (while retaining most of their color) just needed few washes to get the excess out while others obviously hadn’t been treated after dying (usually cheap clothes) and continued to bleed into other colors in the same article of clothing–those ones get returned.