When it comes to washing denim, our general philosophy is that less is more. That’s because washing less not only saves water, but makes jeans last longer. As you may have heard, our CEO Chip Bergh notoriously admitted he’s worn jeans for more than a year without washing.
But is that really the norm?
The inquiring minds at Mashable wanted to know. So they, together with SurveyMonkey, commissioned a survey to get the dirt on how often people wear a variety of personal items, including their beloved blues.
The results are in, and it turns out only about 21 percent of people are dedicated to less-than-frequent washing — citing they wear their jeans five or more times before washing. The most popular response (27 percent) was wearing jeans three times before tossing them in the washer. About 30 percent of respondents only wear their jeans once or twice before washing.
If you fall within the norm, consider this: Washing jeans every other week instead of once a week would save more than 500 liters of water a year.
Worried about the germ factor? Washing a bit less frequently than “average” actually won’t make you dirtier (well, not from a bacteria perspective anyway). A study from the University of Alberta found bacteria levels on a pair of jeans worn for two weeks to be nearly identical to those worn for over a year.
Next time you think your jeans are ready to hit the hamper, we challenge you to stop … and wear them again.
Tell us, how often do you wash your jeans? Tweet us @LeviStraussCo or find us on LinkedIn.
