Care For Your (Denim/ Wool/ Cotton)
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<–---- is also stoked on Doc Bronners.
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Hectic's explanation of wabi-sabi is spot on. It basically means that things get a patina by aging and that that patina can make them more beautiful because it tells a story and connects the object to its user. The formal component is important, too. A nice diamond pattern on the back of a jeans leg is probably more interesting than a plain blue surface esthetically.
You get a bit of a philosophical problem when you idolize and provoke the wabi-sabi effect by putting a wallet in your jeans or a knife just to get the cool effect even if you normally don't do that. Wabi-sabi should come naturally, at least for the purists. Or people who wash rarely, or use brushes or lemon juice or sun or starch to encourage fades. A purist would say that a person who does that is hardly any better than a person who buys a pair of pre-treated denim jeans. It should come naturally or even better accidentally because the accidental shape is the shape of nature. Like the fade on my shoes that I once posted here. That's a prime example of great wabi-sabi.
Till
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Till, I can totally relate to your last post on the issue of Wabi-Sabi, it should be an organic process, anything else is NOT wabi-sabi…
Exactly, Stewart! Now, if you happen to always carry your wallet in your left front pocket for example and you put it there in your jeans, too, that's ok in my book. But if you put all kinds of props in there just to coerce some wabi-sabi out of it, then that is more wishi-washi.
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Dchill, that's cool. Another Austinite! So I won't be the only bugger wearing IH here. That's sad and good at the same time.
Simon, that is excellent wabi-sabi. Same thing would be if you rode a bike to school every day and then you'd get a fade where the saddle sits and extra heavy creases behind the knees. That's the good stuff.
Till
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Did that to an old denim shirt I had with decent results. Can't wait to see it on the iron hearts!
Back when I first got into the denim game at the age of 15, I was too impatient to fully understand the beauty of natural fades and such. Therefore, as any impatient kid would do, I tried to speed up the process by pinching at the creases, excessively rubbing my hands on my lap, and purposefully sitting on rough surfaces so that I could slide off when I got up in order to break my jeans in faster. I know realize the flaws in my logic because those jeans (nudies haha) look like crap. The fading is too exaggerated in some parts and not enough in others which makes for a "true religion" like effect. I've since stopped doing these things and now my jeans look great, IMO.
As for washing, it depends on the jeans. Usually, I'll soak them in hot water to get any shrinking out of the way and to make them stiffer (I like the feeling). Then, I usually just wear them until they're unbearably dirty and hot soak them with a little detergent. I usually hold off on the first machine wash until about 6-8 months and then machine wash them every other month. I feel this prolongs the denim as the dirt and grime don't have a chance to seriously build up and break down the denim.
