Our Brother in Berlin
Our last, but by no means least denim expert is Daniel Cizmek, the man responsible for bringing some of the best Japanese denim over to Europe.
Over the years, Daniel has shrunk down jeans for himself and his customers at DC4; he has seen and done it all when it comes to shrinking unsanforized denim.
Daniel is “okay” with the bathtub ritual up to a point. He doesn’t mind seeing people stepping into their tubs wearing their jeans. The water should be around 40 degrees centigrade and he recommends you sit there for 15-20 minutes. Once out of the tub do a few squats. This will set in the honeycombs and whiskers. Then take them off and lay them on a drying rack.
For Daniel, personally this is too much trouble.
“I have done this whole celebrity thing. Lying in the bath with jeans on. But I don’t do it anymore. It is too much hassle.”
Instead, he just throws them in the bath and lets them air dry.
Essential Advice
Daniel does offer this essential piece of advice, however:
Shrink to fit jeans should never be worn before they have been soaked!
The cotton needs the water to tighten and bind together. If you don’t soak the jeans, the cotton will break up much, much faster. Wearing them immediately the cotton yarn gets very dry and brittle.
When it comes to the first wash, Daniel adds that some types of jeans, The Flat Head, for example, can shrink slightly up to the third wash. Keep this in mind when you have your jeans hemmed, allow yourself a little wiggle room with the cuffing.
As a parting tip, Daniel gives us the solution to true to size unsanforized jeans:
If your jeans are a tight fit around the waist and you can’t afford a loss of inches, insert a piece of wood in the waist. It should be half the length of your actual waist. This will prevent the denim shrinking down, making them wearable.
Myths Busted. Sense Prevails
So, there you have it folks. For the denim experts, it is quite universal; the days of wearing your denim in the bath are long gone. The reality is much simpler, much less messy and a lot more comfortable.
How about you dear readers, any particularly quirky methods for shrinking jeans? We would love to hear from you in the comments section below!
Thanks to Freshness Magazine for the awesome images of Kiya.
32 comments
Why not? What special qualifications/experience do you need to be able to comment on shrinking jeans other than having shrunk jeans before?
Hi Martin,
We’re not really sure what you’re commenting on? Is it something specific in the article or one of the other comments?
funny to read all the so called denim expert opinions! page nr 3 is the best with following statement:
“The cotton needs the water to tighten and bind together”!!!!!where the hell u get this science?
for those who really want to know what matters: nothing!
whatever u do is ok. the shrinkage is just caused by the tension in the yarn during weaving and by sanforizing the fabric these tensions relax and the fabric get stability.
wearing washed/unwashed, sitting in the bathtub with or without detergent/salt,etc is not critical to this mechanical parameter.
under temperature the fabric will return to its original position and, if unsanforized, shrink.
thats all and the rest is BS.
The article says yo soak before wearing but my eviscerate says to wear as long as possible then soak, which is it?
Hi Leonard,
Thank you for your question. As it is argued in the post, there is no “right” way to soak your raw denim jeans. However, the article quite thoroughly points out the pros and cons of pre-wear soaking vs. no soak. With pre-wear soaking, the fading may take a little longer and the contrasts may not get as pronounced (cons), but the denim will in all likelihood last longer (pros). The only way to find out what works for you is to try – which is also one of the most fun parts of raw denim. However, if you’re wearing unsanforized denim, we would always recommend a pre-wear soak to get the majority of the shrinkage out of the denim.
Best,
Thomas
Levis tag*
I find most jeans, especially from Japan have a rise that is already close to being too short for me. If soaked right away with no constraints it could be game over.
I usually soak the legs all the way up to the rise with out touching. Also splashing the front by the pockets so it won’t create a “pouchy” looking front rise area. Let air dry then wear for a month or so to get all the stretch out of the waist and rise. Being carful to not let the crotch get too worn out. Then full on wash with soap to get all the built-up starch and dirt out for longevity of the denim. Constantly hand streaching the waist and rise throught the wash and dry process yo insure they dont overshrink. Then I go as long as possible before the second and third wash. 🙂
More on my blog!
The Denim Hound
Might be necro-bumping an old topic here, but I’m new to unsanforized denim. After reading the soak-before-wear bit, I’m wondering how I can get them to shrink to the right fit. I’ve always thought that unsanforized means “shrink to fit”, and soak-sitting in them tub wearing them would get them to shrink to the right fit with each person’s measurements. If I just throw them in the tub won’t it just shrink evenly throughout?
It’s worth noting that unsanforised left hand twill doesn’t shrink or tighten up quite as much as right hand twill ( I found this on both Studio d’artisan SD-007, and Strike Gold 3109, both unsanforised left hand twill models ) The heavier the weight of your denim the more likely it is to need a second soak to achieve a full shrink too. I’ve also found the most pronounced roping on the hem occurs on mid weight 13-15 oz denim, and can be highly dependent on the skill of the Union special operator. In my experience Japanese milled sanforised denim such as that used by Spellbound or 3sixteen will often still shrink a small but noticable amount.
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