EDMONTON — The good news about raw denim is you don’t need to wash it. The bad news is, it still gets dirty.

That doesn’t stop trendy young men (and some women) from embracing “raw” or “dry” denim, which manufacturers recommend wearing regularly, without washing, for at least six months.

That’s right, jeans you don’t wash, for months at a time. Pretty soon, Mom will be begging you to let her do your laundry.

The idea is that when you eventually do wash them, the dye will come out of the deep creases and wear-spots that have developed, giving you the ultimate, authentic, personalized, worn-by-you look.

It’s a modern take on the old Levi 501s people wore for years until they were perfectly broken-in, says Rob Honzell, owner of HG2, the downtown mecca for all things denim. He holds up a pair of brand new, raw denim Nudie brand jeans — uniformly dark blue, called “raw” because they haven’t been treated, embellished or pre-washed the way most conventional jeans have.

Don’t wash them for six months, then wash them, and they’ll fade, with wear spots in all the right places, like the second pair Honzell displays — his own, which he brought in for demonstration purposes. The ones he’s wearing are the same brand, same wear-and-wash after six months, but then worn for an additional year or so and washed regularly. Now they’re faded, worn and creased to perfection.

Sure, you can buy jeans with all that work done already at the factory through chemicals and pre-washing. But for those who take their denim seriously, like Honzell, it’s all about the authenticity.

“I think men tend to be more denim junkies than women,” he says. “Women are more concerned with fit, and how their bum looks.”

“It’s definitely more of a guy thing,” admits Honzell’s wife, Lindsay, who also works at the store. To her credit, she too is wearing raw, unwashed denim, but then, she doesn’t wear them very often. Her slim-fit, Naked and Famous jeans are still a pretty uniform, deep blue.

“It’s just like a total denim geek thing,” she says. “They’re your rips, they’re your jeans,” she adds.

“They tell the story of the past year of your life,” says Rob.

Lindsay laughs. “This is from that bar fight and this is where that girl threw her drink on me,” she says.

Nudie, the Swedish jeans maker, is at the forefront of the raw denim trend, says Rob. They produce raw denim jeans in a range of colours, including black, grey and light blue.

Naked and Famous, a purist, Canadian company that uses only Japanese raw denim, is known for its unembellished jeans and its low price point — starting at $125 and going up to about $175. Nudies start at $200 and can cost as much as $700.

A quick scan of the two companies’ jean styles confirms the predominance of men among raw denim devotees. In total, they offer about 30 styles for guys. For women, they have three or four.

“Women are more about the fit and the feel. They don’t necessarily like that stiff-feeling denim,” says Lindsay. Naked and Famous even produces one style of raw denim jean that contains 20-per-cent Kevlar. And while they’re not quite bulletproof, they aren’t likely to be the most comfy jeans you’ve ever worn.

Add to that the fact that usually, after months without washing, jeans can start to smell, another strike against them for most women. Rob suggests a brief stint in the freezer to kill odour-causing bacteria, if that becomes a problem.

Still, if you need to iron your unwashed jeans, you may notice a certain, uh, pungency, he says. If necessary, they can be dry cleaned. But then, what would be the fun in that?

mgold@thejournal.canwest.com

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IF YOU MUST WASH

Washing instructions for “dry” or “raw” denim, from the website of Swedish jeans company Nudie, in charming translation:

Turn well-worn dry jeans inside out otherwise they might get unwanted crinkles from the machine.

Use washing powder with little or no bleach. Wash in 60 degrees to get a better fading effect of the indigo and the natural worn in effects also get more evident.

You can wash in 40 degrees if you prefer to get a darker cast.

Turn them back to normal and shake them flat, otherwise they might get unwanted stay press effect. When they are still damp you can stretch the inseam as much as needed. Let them dry naturally by hanging, not folded.

If you prefer to keep the dry look (dark and slightly greycasted) you can have them dry cleaned which only removes the dirt but does not affect the indigo fading process as water is not added.

Read more: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/True+grit+wash+jeans+about+journey/3124535/story.html#ixzz0qHf6EoqE