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The Ultimate Guide to Get Vintage Fades from Raw Denim

Rope Dye guide vintage fades, faded denim Big John jeans

Synthetic vs. Natural

The composition of the indigo dye is the third factor you should take into consideration when your goal is vintage fades.

This, again, has to do with how things were done in the early days of denim. The very early denim fabrics were dyed with natural indigo; it was only at the end of the 1800s that synthetic indigo took over. There is some debate as to whether Levi’s ever used natural indigo, but given the green cast of the earliest Levi’s we would tend to think they did.

Nowadays, denim dyed with all natural indigo is a hard thing to find, but not impossible. It is very, very expensive though. The natural indigo dyeing process is far more time-consuming due to its rarity and lack of automation. The natural indigo dyed jeans out there are a specialist product for collectors.

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Methods of Dyeing

The way the yarn is dyed also has a great deal to do with the way the fabric fades.

Rope dying is the method of choice for raw denim. With this method, the core of the yarn is untouched by the dyestuff. Older, handcrafted methods such as hank dyeing or cone dyeing give a different result. The dyestuff penetrates much further into the yarn, reducing the contrast when the denim fades. Many of the mainstream denims will, however, be slasher dyed, which means that the yarns are dyed individually.

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Unsanforized vs. Sanforized

Again, this is looking to the past for inspiration and direction.

Although denim from the likes of Lee was sanforized from a very early stage, many of the quirks of raw denim come from the shrinkage associated with unsanforized fabric. The leg twist and the roping are both influenced heavily, by the way, the fabric shrinks when washed. Therefore, choosing unsanforized will help you get a vintage fade.

Vintage Fit for a Vintage Fade

In the olden days, jeans were wider and more loosely fitting, which influenced the way they faded. Nowadays, a lot of the denim created to fade down in a vintage way is created for the repro jeans. So, you tend to find the wider fits paired with denim with the qualities we are looking for.

To Round Up How to Get Vintage Fades

For the perfect vintage fade look you should concentrate on:

  • Lighter weight denim, around the 12 oz. mark.
  • A wider cut in an unsanforized denim.
  • If you are really serious about it (and can afford it) look for a pair of jeans made from a natural indigo, hank-dyed denim.

Go to page three where we reveal the single most important can’t-miss tip about how to get good vintage fades

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409 comments

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Bob January 21, 2015 at 23:44

Excellent! Good looking denim without smelling like a hobo

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Bob2 February 9, 2015 at 08:31

I’ve been arguing for vintage fade dry jeans for years! Everybody thought I was crazy because apparently the only way to pay homage to the denim gods were to get siiiickfadezzzzz.

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Denimhunters February 9, 2015 at 16:02

Hi Bob,
We hear you! If you have any great fades you think we should share, send us a few pictures of them to [email protected] and we will take a look.

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kukuh05 December 9, 2015 at 17:06

Is washing my dry denim longer than 6 months will give a better result than i wash it on exact 6 months? Sorry I have a question with nothing about this article and sorry for my english ? .

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