Denimio fans! Are you the one who needs help?
Stubborn stains are no jokes. When you buy your first pair of raw selvage jeans, sooner or later, you will need to face denim care issues. Some people prefer to wash their jeans often, making them look vintage from the distant past. On the contrary, others try to wash less often to achieve the most contrasting fading result.
We’ve all been in the situation when we need to tidy up our jeans. Denim care issues are not only a few, and not all of them may be obvious right from the beginning.
If you always wear your jeans to get contrasted fading, most of you must ever face the staining problem. In some cases, it will be sufficient just to brush jeans slightly. In times, more serious and technical methods are required.
Let’s take a look at some typical cases of stains on jeans and how they can be removed.
Dried mud and dust
No matter where we live, we all actively move and very often, gather dust and dirty spots on jeans. The most common example, the back of the leg from the bottom to the knee part is soiled the most. Even if you try to wash jeans as less as possible, you can not just leave these stains on your denim. Dirt will weaken denim quality and gradually destroy it.
So, how do we do now?
In this case, the simplest method is dry cleaning with a traditional cloth brush. Check out carefully at the dirty area and gently wipe it off with a brush in the direction of denim weaving (the directions of RHT or LHT weaving are very noticeable if you look closely at your jeans). Try not to push hard. After a while, you will see that the dirty area is slightly reduced.
Tips
You may notice that it’s easy for some denim types to be cleaned this way, while it is not the case for other denim. This depends on the raw materials used to produce your jeans and also on how tight the threads of the denim are twisted. In fact, tighter denim is easier to clean than the loosen ones.
Tightly twisted threads are made by short fibers. As they have been produced with a much lower twisting frequency compared to long fibers fabric, this kind of denim does not deeply absorb dirt. This means that the rougher of denim, the easier it gets to clean them up. As Zimbabwean cotton is made of long fibers, it will be tougher to get rid of stains on them.
If dry cleaning doesn’t help, we can try the next step; lightly moisten the jeans leg and wipe off dried stains or stubborn dust. The same rule applies; do not brush or push it hard. If the stained area is too large, you should use the usual delicate wash.
Dried spots (food, sauces, etc.)
If it happened that you dropped some food on your jeans such as a drop of sauce, jam or something else, do not try to get it out immediately. Generally, people immediately pour a stain detergent with the aggressive chemical composition and this should not be the first in place. Yes, the stains will disappear, so does indigo components in your denim. We guess nobody wants to have clean jeans with a pale indigo spot, right?
Keep calm and follow our recommended steps below.
Firstly, let the stain dry. After that, use a needle, a small knife, or any sharp object to carefully scrape away dried spot following denim weave direction. It is important not to create any damage on the denim texture. Take your time, this is the biggest challenge!
Tips
If this way doesn’t work well as expected, you might need to wash your jeans. As mentioned earlier, do not try to wash up only on the dirty area but wash the jeans wholly by hands or washing machine.
Wine, fruits, and fat
If your denim is stained by wine, fruits or fat, you need to put salt immediately on the stained area. Sprinkle salt on a fresh stain as thick as possible so that it absorbs the liquid. After the wine soaks into the salt, add some more salt again. When the stain becomes lesser, it’s time to remove the spot by using fabric or sponge (do not do any hard pushing, otherwise you will get an obvious spot as mentioned above).
After all, you will find out that the whole jeans still need to be washed, which is good to do. Washing process helps to clean better and prevent uneven indigo fading result.
Tips
In general, all of the cleaning tips are quite simple. If you are not able to get rid of the stains in a limited area, do not try to rub it harder but to wash them completely. There is nothing wrong with washing jeans. They will not lose their attractiveness. Remember that the most important thing is to have comfortable and clean jeans which will serve you for a long time. Washing is a common, natural and logical process for getting rid of dirt, which sooner or later may occur as you wear your denim.
A solution for stubborn grease and jeans pollution
If you haven’t succeeded to manually clean your jeans, you need a solution. Washing jeans with high temperature is absolutely not an option since leather patch will be cooked unless you like mini-patch (yes, it shrinks!). Same with denim, it contains elastane, spandex or similar elastic materials. So, do not use temperatures above 40 degrees to avoid losing jeans shape.
You can use ordinary detergents (free-bleaching). Another option is to use specialized products recommended by jeans manufacturer for washing.
Here are two selections from your trusted brands; Samurai Jeans and Momotaro.
MOMOTARO JEANS SZ-001 JEANS DETERGENT
The product is based on palm oil extract. You will need only 30ml detergent to wash your jeans. The manufacturer guarantees that you will be able to maintain a rich indigo color as long as possible, while your jeans will be fresh and washed. Plus point: this product has a light peach flavor.
SAMURAI JEANS KAMINARI SOAP 480G
According to the manufacturer, this detergent is an “ideal soap for jeans.” It consists of only three components: water, soybean oil and caustic soda. If you use this soap, you will not only maintain indigo color as much as possible but also maintain your jeans shape; just like MAGIC.
Conclusion
Jeans are alive. Their conditions change and absorb surrounding components according to your daily lifestyle. This identifies your personal jeans character. There is nothing to worry about when you wash jeans a bit earlier before your scheduled plan. Enjoy the cleanness, comfort and refreshing feeling while wearing your favorite jeans.