How often do you wash your jeans?
According to the CEO of Levi Strauss & Co., Chip Bergh, you might be washing them too often. Bergh recently spoke about the company’s commitment to sustainability, encouraging individuals to prolong washing their jeans.
“We’re hoping to spread the word through the work we’re doing to encourage consumers to wash less and to create more awareness about the choices consumers have to make when they purchase new clothes,” the company’s spokeswoman, Marisa Giller, wrote in an email.
Although the campaign has been going on for years, “it took an interesting turn just a few months ago when our CEO, Chip Bergh, stood up to show the pants he was wearing and admitted that they hadn’t been washed in a year,” she said.
Washing your jeans every two weeks instead of every week will not only save 14 liters of water, but will also serve as a great excuse to reduce laundry.
Carlotta Murri, a 21-year-old UF international studies senior, said she thinks prolonging the washing of denim can be beneficial to college students living in dorms and paying to use the machines.
“I wash them like, what? Every two weeks or so,” she said. “I try not to waste water.”
Really, it boils down to how the jeans are worn.
“If you’re working in a dirty environment, you’ll likely have to wash more often,” Giller said. “If you’re wearing your jeans to class every day—probably not as much.”
Richard Lainez, a 20-year-old UF biology junior, likes to wear a pair of jeans at least once or twice a week, but said he doesn’t agree with not washing them often.
“During the summer … if you’re outside in the day, it’s going to be all sweaty,” Lainez said.
An average pair of jeans absorbs roughly 3,500 liters of water—and that is after only two years of use.
Some suggest placing them in the freezer to kill bacteria and eliminate odor. Take your pick.
[A version of this story ran on page 7 on 9/11/2014 under the headline "Levi’s CEO suggests: wash your jeans less"]
