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How to Care for Your Denim (and Why You Are Washing It Too Often)
People wash their denim after every wear and then wonder why it fades unevenly, softens out of shape and loses its character within a year. Denim is built to be one of the toughest fabrics in your wardrobe β a denim skirt or jacket should easily outlast most of what hangs beside it. The problem is almost never the fabric; it is the laundry routine.
Treated properly, a good piece of denim will last the better part of a decade and develop the kind of personal fading that no factory wash can fake. Here is how to get there.
Wash far less than you think
This is the whole secret, and it surprises everyone. Frequent washing strips the indigo unevenly, agitates and weakens the cotton fibres, and flattens the character out of the fabric. Most denim needs washing only every few weeks of regular wear β sometimes far less.
Denim does not need washing nearly as often as it needs airing. Sunlight and a breeze do most of the work a washing machine claims to do.
When it is genuinely time to wash
- Turn the piece inside out to protect the surface colour
- Use cold water and a small amount of mild, dye-free detergent
- Wash on a gentle cycle, or by hand in a tub or basin
- Hang to dry β never tumble dry, which shrinks and weakens the fibres
- Spot-clean small marks rather than washing the whole garment
Do this, not that
Do
- Air it outdoors between wears
- Wash inside out, cold, on a gentle cycle
- Hang it to dry in shape
- Spot-clean small spills straight away
Avoid
- Washing after every single wear
- Hot water, which sets stains and fades colour
- The tumble dryer and its shrinking heat
- Harsh or heavily-perfumed detergents
Denim myths, answered
Explore our denim range
From denim midi skirts to everyday minis, our denim is chosen to age well and built to last β the kind worth caring for.
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