Levis lvc 501 1947 shrink-to-fit advice - Page 3

No, not really. You're just not invited.

Do you have any scientific evidence to back that up? Otherwise, I think the uninitiated could do worse than trusting some Japanese denim master.

The first wash juggles different factors, which people may prioritize differently.

Soaking in water shrinks them. Some people don't give a fuck, they'll wear two sizes too big, two sizes too small, what's the big deal, right?

Washing them removes starch, which can cause excessive abrasions, most infamously the crotch blowout. Some people don't give a fuck. Cool, easy access, whatever.

However, washing does bleed indigo. That's where all the vinegar, salt, woolite, comes in: mild cleansers remove the least amount of dye. Some people don't give a fuck, they'll blast their jeans with oxyclean and rock on like Bon Jovi. Cool, whatever.

Lastly, the spin cycle supposedly allows for even dye distribution. Since indigo is inevitably being removed when the jeans are submerged in water and/or detergent, spinning makes a little more sense, whereas if jeans just sat in a basin, the indigo would be caught in the folds, released at creases, etc. Some people don't give a fuck and don't mind hypercolor jeans. Cool, whateva.

There's a billion ways to treat jeans, from rolling-your-eyes-omg-these-are-just-jeans to people who would never even wear the jeans, just stroke the selvage when they get the urge.

But for many people, $200 bucks is a lot to spend on a pair of jeans, and I don't know, maybe it's not unreasonable for them to try to get it right.

Didn't you read my original post? I washed after the handsoak because I didn't see enough shrinkage. I got the extra shrinkage I was looking for. It worked for me. It's not a science for me, I didn't do a double-blind experiment.

You can poo-poo vinegar and salt all you want. Urban myth? Most people don't even know about dry denim, let alone using vinegar and salt to treat 'em. Personally, I did it because a lot of denim heads recommend it. You're questioning vinegar's ability to retain the dye, but I've always considered salt and vinegar cleansing agents, such as removing some starch and factory oils in the denim, in order to prevent premature and excessive wear and tear to the denim. In fact, I saw such little dye loss in the handwash that I went ahead and used woolite dark, because at that point, I was more worried by the aforementioned crotch blowouts than indigo loss.

I still like the logic of warm soaking to get most of the shrinkage out of the way, vinegar and salt removing factory oils and starch, and the spin cycle evening out the indigo. Makes sense to me, and that's why I did it.

Anyways, I just posted what I was doing, including questions I had. Never meant to be a manifesto. I do what I do, you can do what you do.

I mean, hey I think the jeans you posted look like abercrombie washes. You like em like that, that's cool. Personally I hate the american eagle looking generic mall jeans.

I like mine much darker with more contrast, they're more unique that way. Which is why I (and I suppose others) try to figure shit out to make that happen.

yeah, nice way of trying to play it off...you're too cool for school, laughing at us for wasting our time, while spending plenty of time talking about this. Oh what, you're a professional myth debunker? Public crusade to ration salt and vinegar? Who are you kidding? And you haven't addressed any of my points. But you did post a picture - apparently passing the "wasting a lot of time" phase? Like I said, your initial pictures look like mall jeans. Your above picture is supposed to be a response to that, by presenting darker jeans with more contrast. Yeah, you got em - along with the tears forming where you cuff the jeans - and the beginnings of crotch blowout. You know, I heard salt and vinegar could help with that. Oh well, too late. But hey, I'm not one to bitch w/o putting up. This would be good for the thread. Obviously unless somebody does an experiment using two of the exact same jeans, it wouldn't say much. But whatever, like I said, I'm happy with my results and I don't really bother to fuck with what I did, and risk something like the holes in your crotch. My 47's are at my girl's place, but here are a pair of NS, around 18 months old: The contrast is shit compared to my 47's, which have a much deeper dye. But whateva, it's what I got right now. Have fun deciding between your mall jeans or crotch blowouts. I'm sure your condescending attitude will keep you warm as your crotch holes form.