Washing your duds in suds

[DrPat]

@Giles:

I would imagine almost the last thing on the mind of the deck crew on an aircraft carrier during WW2 was whether they should hand wash their N1 or send it to the laundry.  I really do think we worry way too much about washing our clothes, most of what we all wear (including jeans) is functional workwear, it's designed to take abuse. I don't suppose cowboys give/gave a lot of thought as to how they should wash their jeans either.

Maybe….but there are well documented cases of people destroying IH gear by washing it incorrectly.

@DougNg destroyed a jacket and wanted to get it redyed

@hectic destroyed his superblack western

@UnTucked destroyed a denim shirt and bleached it

@Giles  spun an indigo dyed shirt and it came out looking tie dyed

I washed my first generation N1 after some idiot on a ski trip cooked fish and managed to make everything in the apartment smell like fish oil.  Even though I washed it on the delicate cycle there were still a few white lines visible.

[Seul]

@DrPat:

Maybe….but there are well documented cases of people destroying IH gear by washing it incorrectly.

@DougNg destroyed a jacket and wanted to get it redyed

@hectic destroyed his superblack western

@UnTucked destroyed a denim shirt and bleached it

@Giles  spun an indigo dyed shirt and it came out looking tie dyed

It's also well documented that aforementioned people are complete idiots. Except for DougNg (who has a lot of guns).

[UnTucked]

@DrPat:

@UnTucked destroyed a denim shirt and bleached it

"Destroyed" is a relative term, I guess…

If I wanted a shirt that would be pristine forever, I wouldn't have bought a denim shirt, and if I wanted a shirt that would look pretty much like everyone else's who owns one, I wouldn't have bleached it.

I like to think that I brought life to an otherwise "normal" piece of clothing! lol

But, I pretty much get your point... though, I've also never bought into the obvious irony of pampering "over-engineered workwear".

Wear it...

Wash it...

Have fun...

Own your clothes... don't let them own you

[gaseousclay]

I don't pamper my clothes per se…I just try not to abuse them for the sake of abusing them. Wear, wash occasionally, repeat. Also, IH is one of the few brands that holds its value, so in the event that I decide to part ways with something I stand a better chance of getting more money for a piece than something that were beat to hell. I know most of us are very particular about the condition of our clothes - the second hand market is no different imo.

[Jim]

Well some more feedback came in. Since I wasn’t tagged I stopped looking after the second day lol.
I know all kinds of peeps. From hardcore to softies. Working in a denim shop you get all kinds.
Of course I wash my jeans and shirts and have never worried about it but I would also point out that an enlisted man on a carrier didn’t have to buy his jacket. I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t going to be any drastic shrinkage or anything else unexpected. Turning my jeans inside out and not using bleach is just common sense and a little wear and tear is what we’re going for anyway isn’t it?
Keep it coming fellas…

[WhiskeySandwich]

After a wash I hang my shirts by the sleeves to let them dry with the added weight of the water to hopefully keep the sleeves from shrinking. Got them long arms.

[WhiskeySandwich]

@Heavy_blue moved my response for the 362 habits here, because it applies to pretty much everything I have.

first was a soapy soak with minor agitation in hot water around wear 35 I guess. Then I did a cold wash in the machine and towel dried it, wore it damp for a few minutes, then threw it in the dryer, around 70-80 wears. Then a moth or so later I did another hot soapy soak. I probably won’t put it in the machine again. I don’t like putting anything that fades in the machine. Results are far more predictable with a hand wash. Gonna stick to bathtub soapy soaks with lots of hand agitation, then a rinse.

For stuff like the 362, that gets hard creasing, I find handwashing to retain creases better.

Not sure if I said somewhere previously, but my thing goes: close fasteners, turn inside out, place in clean tub, turn on water, usually takes a while to heat up, so it helps to get a cold presoak, then I drain and fill with hot water and a tiny dab of soap. Then I agitate it by scrunching it up and spreading it back out, without stretching it, several times and let it sit for like 20 minutes, then drain and refill, agitating again to get soap out. After draining I hang from hooks on my shower curtain, sometimes rolling it in a dry towel first. I smooth out any bad wrinkles before leaving to dry. While it’s halfway dry, I usually shake it loose and put it on to try and get the good creases back and get rid of the bad ones.

It may seem like a pain and it probably doesn’t get them that clean but, I dig the results and it’s really not a bad process.

Edit to say I dont really put anything fadable into the machine, but I do put uhfs in.

[Oaktavia]

@WhiskeySandwich I would like to add that if you hang dry, doing so on a warm or hot sunny day dries the fabric 2 or 3x as fast. My T2 slubby dried in just a few hours last week in the sun with 65F.

[A Former User]

@WhiskeySandwich thanks! I have my share in washing and soaking several denims! But yours looks so damn good that i really would like to try your angle! Thanks and i’ll share results in a bit

[WhiskeySandwich]

@Oaktavia yeah I need to set up a laundry line. Nothing like sun dried, really freshens thing up nicer.

[WhiskeySandwich]

@Heavy_blue thanks man! I really only started doing it a particular way because I found it’s kinda streamlined my methods. Laziness and results lol

[A Former User]

@WhiskeySandwich yeah we all have our ways! I’m nearly in 50 days straight in the 361 and i’m done with spot cleaning so i’m gonna soak now

[Oaktavia]

@WhiskeySandwich makes 'em crispy like a nice piece of bacon.

[WhiskeySandwich]

@Oaktavia lol I like that fresh crispness a lot, it means I don’t have to worry about anything for a while and it helps with the contrast, but when they get buttery soft and shiny velvet, that’s my favorite. My 21ib are there and they’re def ready for a thorough hand wash, but I’ve been dragging them out to 100 wears, no wash no soak, just cuz I know they’ll be totally different after I do.

[A Former User]

Black water and there were piles of dust inside haha

[WhiskeySandwich]

@Heavy_blue yeah the 16oz sbg handles soaks well imo. It’s a very unique denim due to its rigid tension. It bends like tin foil lol. So I’m a bit careful about its dye loss. It’s high-point dye loss makes for great contrast, but it also seems to lose a good bit overall with soaks. But no matter how often you do it, it seems that, thanks to the rigidity, you get contrast effortlessly anyway.

I found this to be sorta the case with the 18oz vintage denim too. Although it’s much looser, it somehow stays very crispy for a long time. So that gives good contrast If you wash sparingly at the beginning, then later it gets super soft and loose, which isnt as great for contrast fades, but if you delay the washes initially, that’s already happened. This is why I sprint through the first stage with most denim to get the contrast early, then ease up and wash more.

[WhiskeySandwich]

@Heavy_blue awesome. It’s gonna have some nice white fuzz on the surface after that dries I bet. That bi-color velvet

[A Former User]

@WhiskeySandwich yeah dude! It’s hanging to dry as we speak and it reminds me of the inky black water from my XHSib! I flattened the creases and will flip it and wear to set the creases when this thing is half dry! I’m
Quite curious how it turned out

[Supersonic]

Hi All,

Pretty new to IH, grabbed a few pieces over the past few months. But I'm not new to this fading lark.

What's the longest some of you have gone without washing an item.

I've got a RGT Sashiko Cruiser (first batch 2020 I believe?)

I've worn it on and off for the last 4 years, recently started wearing it again the past few days. It doesn't really smell that much surprisingly. It's pretty snug, another reason I've put off soaking or washing it.

But got me thinking, what are other peoples experiences with Jackets compared to jeans. Anyone rocking something they've never washed for a considerable amount of time?

Cheers
Rob

[goosehd]

@Supersonic I’ve moved your post to here to continue an ongoing discussion regarding care.