Preventing fades in selvedge denim

[dieworkwear]



Thanks guys. @dieworkwear I know precious little about denim. I ended up at Gustin primarily for the slim cut and the range of dark denims. I certainly do not need stiff so raw is not requisite. I skim J crew every once in a while but their offerings are pedestrian and not in the colors that I am looking for.

Just embrace the fades. Denim looks so much better broken in. Harder to wear them with sport coats that way, but it looks great with casualwear.

 

[Van Veen]

I shellac my denim so it doesn't fade. It's foolproof.

 

[dieworkwear]

I take my jeans off whenever I move. Really prevents fading.

 

[Lancaster]

Haha. I have my own office so that might work

 

[Lancaster]

Give my secretary a shock though

 

[skeen7908]

Good thread

Instead of trying to avoid fading, is it possible to redye raw denim ?
Black would be easiest obviously to get a colour match but how homogeneous would it turn out ?

 

[TomCollinz]

That may help a little, but at the heart of it, you're essentially asking if there's a way to stop clothes from wearing down. Indigo denim fades when the white core is exposed. Since indigo doesn't completely penetrate the yarn, the material's white core is revealed when the top surface wears down.

There's no treatment you can apply to sink the indigo in further. Or prevent the yarn from wearing down.

You may be able to minimize how much indigo is lost through the cleaning process (I imagine that's what people are trying to do with the vinegar stuff). If that's your goal, maybe look into dry cleaning? But there's nothing you can do to stop yarns from wearing down.

That said, some jeans fade faster than others. The PBJ NCs mentioned above, for example, are dyed with indanthrene, not indigo, which supposedly penetrates the yarn more.

If you're up for non-blue jeans, I also find that certain black jeans keep their color for a long time. 3sixteen's black warp/ black weft denim (what they call their double black denim) is really, really hard to fade.

I understand that most selvege denim is rope dyed, leaving the core white, allowing for the high contrast fading. Are there brands that vat-dye their selvedge denim like most mass-produced jeans for less fading?

 

[double00]

I understand that most selvege denim is rope dyed, leaving the core white, allowing for the high contrast fading. Are there brands that vat-dye their selvedge denim like most mass-produced jeans for less fading?

that a fabric is selvedge has zero to do with how it might take dye . indigo is a fugitive dye that's why it crocks and fades .