It’s clear that we have to wash most of our clothes after just a few uses. But when it comes to jeans, people can have very different opinions, and some even say that jeans should never be washed.
Levi Strauss CEO Charles Bergh may be partly responsible for the idea, although he hardly intended for that to be the main takeaway from an event he spoke at in 2014.
“I did not say not to wash your jeans,” the CEO of the famous company explained in his interview with CNBC’s Christine Tan as part of the “Managing Asia” program broadcast last month.
Bergh still doesn’t use a washing machine to clean his jeans: “Real denim lovers, people who really love their jeans, will tell you to never put your jeans in the washing machine. I do like that too.”
Denim lovers often say that washing jeans will affect their shape and color, while not washing them will improve their appearance due to wrinkles and weather exposure. It is also said that not washing jeans makes them last longer as it prevents the denim fibers from fraying and thus holes and tears.
But, as you might expect, Bergh doesn’t leave his jeans dirty or dirty. “If I spill some curry on my jeans, I clean it up. But I just clean that spot. “And if they get really dirty, you know, if I’m outside sweating or something happened and they get really dirty, I wash them in the shower,” Bergh said, explaining this shower-washing process, which means keeping the jeans in the shower and covering them with soap the same way you would your body.
Bergh pointed out that washing jeans is actually an important part of the carbon footprint of the garment, stating that the denim industry consumes a lot of water on the production side, but the frequency with which consumers wash their products also plays a role. He said that in the United States, people can wash their jeans after every use, while in other parts of the world, clothes are thrown into the washing machine after every few uses.
In recent years, the debate about how often we should actually wash our clothes, which started with jeans, has been expanding. For example, discussions about how often people wash their pajamas and bedding have spread quickly on social media several times recently, leading to debates about what is and is not hygienic.
But hygiene is not the only issue here. As Bergh points out, washing machines like these use a lot of water. For this reason, some sustainability experts, who point out that washing clothes, especially our mostly synthetic clothes, cause the spread of microplastics that contribute to plastic pollution, suggest that washing clothes less often may be good for the environment.
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