Leave your jeans unwashed to make them last

Research shows germs don't seem to like denim, so Ellen Irvine talks to a woman who's prolonged the life of her jeans and shares tips on how to look after them.

Debbie Baker describes herself as a jean freak - she's had one pair for 26 years.
And one of the ways she manages to make her jeans last is by washing them just once a month. So she's welcomed new research that jeans left unwashed for a year are no dirtier than those that have been worn for a fortnight.
A New Zealand scientist based in Canada used a live subject - an Alberta student who refused to clean his jeans - to test how dirty they can get. But surprising results showed that the denim carried no more bacteria after 15 months of not washing than after two weeks.
Miss Baker, who runs the Garment Alteration Salon in Piccadilly Arcade, leaves it "as long as possible" before washing each of her 18 pairs of jeans.
Infrequent washing helped prolong the life of the jeans, she said. "I think denim is the best fabric ever invented. The dirt mixes in with the fabric, that's why I think you can't get them any dirtier."
Miss Baker believes exposing jeans to the sun also helps keeps bugs away.
"I put them outside for the UV rays - they kill anything. I do that with most of my clothes."
The professional seamstress, who finds most of her jeans at the Salvation Army, gives makeovers to up to 10 pairs of jeans a week to customers. She prolongs the life of the jeans by adding new linings, zips, patches and badges, or even turning them into a skirt.
In the study, University of Alberta student Josh Le, 20, did not wash his jeans in the name of fashion - the "raw" denim look, in which wearers seek a creased and faded style.
New Zealand researcher Rachel McQueen, his human ecology lecturer and an expert in fabric and odour, saw the opportunity for a small, experimental study.
Dr McQueen, a University of Otago graduate now working in Edmonton, measured the amount of filth on his jeans and compared the results with the same jeans after being washed and worn for a fortnight.
"I thought that the bacterial counts would be relatively high [after 15 months]. But I was quite surprised. After a shorter time of wearing them the bacterial counts were roughly about the same.
"I thought I'd find some E.Coli ... and there wasn't. [The bacteria] is not at any level which would cause concern."
The crotch region of the jeans had the highest bacteria count - between 8500 and 10,000 bacterial units per square centimetres - but none of this bacteria was harmful.
She said the results were highly dependent on the individual and this study would not upset washing machine or detergent makers. Her subject was vigilant about hygiene, wore underwear, was fit and healthy and also looked after his jeans by airing them regularly.
"His jeans are unlikely to be as manky as someone who wasn't as hygienic as he was. You could smell the jeans from about 2cm away but other than that they weren't too bad."
Dr McQueen said that stringent laundering treatments were important in many workplaces, such as hospitals, kitchens and hotels. But for most everyday clothing the effect of washing some items less frequently had greater potential benefits to the environment than potential risk to the wearer.
She referred to a study by jeans maker Levi-Strauss, which concluded that by washing jeans once a month, instead of once a week, wearers could reduce their energy use by about 40 per cent and water use by about 35 per cent.
Debbie Baker's tips to prolong the life of your jeans:
- Wash them inside out.
- Don't hang them on the line - pegs damage the fabric.
- "Spot clean" your jeans with a cloth instead of washing them.
- Add a fabric lining if the material is getting thin.
- Sew on patches or badges to cover stains and holes.
- Sard Wondersoap is the best product for getting stains out.
- Leave washing them "as long as possible".
- Unpick the seams and add in panels of fabric to make flares or even a skirt.