Jeans have been fashionable ever since James Dean rebelled sans cause. The problem is, your dungarees have to look beat up to confer any kind of cool - and getting them properly thrashed is harder than it sounds. In the ’60s and ’70s, wear and tear was the way to go, followed by patches. In the ’80s, acid washes ruled. And for butt-huggers with high-contrast thighs from, like, so five minutes ago? Bleach. Today, pre-damaged jeans account for one out of every five pairs sold - and manufacturers from Kentucky to Guatemala use all sorts of tech to apply hipsterness.
How Jeans Go From Blue to Badass
Chemical Appeal
Textile makers coat yarn with polyvinyl alcohol and starch for strength, and paraffin to make it easier to weave into cloth. Those chemicals also make for really stiff pants. For the form-fitting progeny of Brooke Shields’ Calvins, manufacturers "desize" with amylase, a starch-busting enzyme found in saliva, or alkaline chemicals like soda ash.
Stonewashed Masses
Who has the patience to break in a new pair? Textile companies wash jeans with cellulase, an enzyme that breaks down cotton, and often add fist-sized hunks of pumice. More than 70 percent of denim is "stonewashed" this way, from $25 Wal-Mart specials to $176 A-pocket Sevens. Harshly treated jeans don’t last as long - and cost more. Suckers …
Damaged Goods
To create holes and tears, manufacturers get violent. Boutique lines like Sweden’s Nudie Jeans get sandblasted with aluminum oxide or fitted onto inflatable legs and rubbed with sandpaper (200-grit for minor fraying, 50-grit for serious hole-making). Other tools of the trade: drills, Dremels, razors, box cutters, and shotguns. The next big trend? Hand-sewn repairs, naturally.
Dirt (But Not Cheap)
For the kind of fade that comes from friction and sun - think extreme sports, not fidgeting in an office chair - you can’t just use Clorox. Automated sprayers at the factory take up to 20 passes with a diluted bleach solution; manufacturers for companies like Diesel spinoff 55DSL then go back in with green, purple, and yellow washes to achieve specific shades of dirt and grease.
The Anti-Khaki
Wrinkled jeans look lived in - even when they haven’t been. Taking inspiration from jeans that earned their scars the old-fashioned way, lines like Paper Denim & Cloth invert the process that makes khakis wrinkle-free. The recipe: crumple jeans, spray or dip in resin, and then bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes for bottom-of-the-hamper appeal.
- Suzanne Wu
credit Nudie Jeans Co./Melker Lindstrém
Chemical Appeal
credit Nudie Jeans Co./Melker Lindstrém
Stonewashed Masses
credit Nudie Jeans Co./Melker Lindstrém
Damaged Goods
credit Nudie Jeans Co./Melker Lindstrém
Dirt (But Not Cheap)
credit Paper Denim & Cloth
The Anti-Khaki
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