The no wash club
The longer you can leave a new pair of jeans without washing them, the more beautiful a pair of jeans you will have at the end of it. They will also be unique to you.
Each crease will have been made by your own individual way of sitting, walking, even which pocket you put your phone in etc.
They will be made by us, but shaped by you.
At Hiut Denim Co we encourage people to try and go as long as they can without washing their jeans. Not everyone agrees with that, but for us it makes sense for lots of reasons.
So we formed a club around it. The best clubs are the ones that are the hardest to join. Running a marathon entails 26 gruelling miles, so joining the marathon club has a barrier to entry: Pain. Likewise for an Iron Man: Even more pain. The reason we set 6 months as a timeframe to go without washing was because it was hard to do. It was a challenge. And, we love being put to the test.
And guess what? It has become one of the most popular things we have ever done. People have put jeans in their freezers to get rid of the smell, they have made videos of their journey, written blogs etc.
Some of the real diehards have gone 12 months and more without washing their jeans. Like the best clubs, it has become a real badge of honour. And so it should.
The end result is that when they finally go to wash the jeans, they have one of the most beautiful pair of jeans on the planet. One that is unique to them. No matter how hard a jeans maker try’s, no factory can do that. But there is another very cool by-product of the ‘No Wash Club’.
It saves a bunch of water, which makes for a more beautiful jean in how it looks, and how it takes responsibility for its impact on the planet.
As a company, we know we have a silent shareholder called Planet Earth. Yes, we can make our products in the lowest impact way that we know how. But for jeans, the biggest impact comes from us all washing them.
The enemy is indeed the washing machine.
Here’s to the non-washers.
Methodology.
Mark Shayler, who is an expert on this stuff, conducted some research to give us some ball park sums to find out what difference we could make, if any.
We took two pair of jeans. Our slim fit Hiut’s (32 waist) And an average pair of branded jean (32 waist).
We made some assumptions and measurements:
Both jeans weigh 0.805Kg.
Washed using a full 6Kg washing machine.
The jeans are 13.4% of the machine load based on weight. Carbon calculations of washing take the jeans percentage of energy per wash, not the whole wash energy. The washing machine consumes 1.09kWh at 60°C. Energy use is reduced by: ▪ 42% when used at 40°C instead of 60°C (0.63kWh). ▪ 47% when used at 30°C instead of 40°C (0.34kWh). ▪ 81% when used on cold wash instead of 40°C (0.12kWh).We did some digging around:
Average jeans are:
▪ Washed once a week.
▪ Washed at a temperature of 30°C.
▪ Last for two years.
▪ Therefore, 104 washes per lifetime.Hiut Denim jeans are:
▪ Washed at 6 months and from then on, once a month. Washed on a cold water setting.
▪ Last for four years (minimum).
▪ Therefore, 43 washes per lifetime.CO2e impact from energy use from washing:
Per wash
Average jeans on 30°C wash: 20.0g CO2
Hiut Denim jeans on cold water wash: 7.2g CO2
Carbon impact per wash (g CO2e)
CO2e from energy use from washing
Per lifetime
Average jeans on 30°C wash: 2.08Kg CO2 — 2 years
Hiut Denim jeans on cold water wash: 0.31Kg CO2 — 4 years
Total CO2E Reduction Over 4 Years When Using Hiut Denim Co: 75.1%
Carbon footprint of the jeans material and manufacture*
0.805Kg jeans = 2.24Kg CO2
*Based on 100% cotton. Excluding transport and end of life.
Total CO2 of 4 years of jeans use
Production and washing
Average jeans — 2 pairs: 8.64Kg CO2
Hiut Denim jeans — 1 pair: 2.55Kg CO2
Total 4 year CO2 reduction: 6.09Kg
Water use per wash
Based on a 43 litre water consumption per cycle: 5.77 litres per jeans
Water use Per lifetime
Average jeans — 104 washes: 600 litres
Hiut Denim jeans — 43 washes: 248 litres
Water use Per 4 years of jeans use
Average jeans — 208 washes: 1200 litres
Hiut Denim jeans — 43 washes: 248 litres
Total 4 year water reduction when using Hiut Denim: 79.33%
What does all this mean?
So wearing and washing a pair of Hiut’s according to our recommendation would reduce water use by: 952 LITRES.
And Carbon Impact by: 6.1 KG CO2E (over the life of one pair)
The above was an excerpt from Hiut Denim Co. — YearBook 3. We only printed 2000. They have all sold out. But you can get a free digital version of YearBook 1 when you sign up for our newsletter here.
