Posted by Tellason on 26th Apr 2015
How and Why To Soak Your Raw Denim
All denim is either sanforized (pre-shrunk) or unsanforized (in its raw cotton state). Soaking eithertype, if you choose to do it, has its benefits and can be an importantstep to undertake when starting a new pair of jeans.
The main reason to soak sanforized denim before wearing it is toremove some of the wax and starch in the finish of the denim.To soak your raw denim:
- Fill a tub with water (cold water for sanforized, hot for unsanforized)
- Turn your jeansinside out and fully submerge your jeans in the water. If parts of your denim float to the surface,put some weight over it.
- Let your denimsoak for one to two hours. The water mightlook kind of murky afterward but don’t worry, your denim is fine.
- Take your denimout of the tub and squeeze the excess water out
- Air-dry yourdenim. The denim will still be rigid but will break in quicker now that the starch has been removed.
Another rationale for soakingsanforized denim is to “set” the indigo dye to reducecrocking. This isaccomplished by filling a tub with cold water, one cup of white vinegar, and onecup of sea salt and soaking the sunken jeans for one hour. Rinse in cold waterand air dry.
The principal reason to soak unsanforized denim is to shrink-to-fitthe fabric. Since the cotton is in its raw state, jeans made from unsanforizeddenim can shrink 1-2 waist sizes and 2-3 inches in length. The process is thesame as above except for unsanforized denim, hot water is preferable(40°C/140°F).
In both cases, it is veryimportant to keep the jeans out of the dryer and to air dry only.
Here's a handy infographic you can keep for yourself the next time you want to soak your raw denim:
