Dry Denim
Welcome to my dry denim lens. Dry, or raw denim is unprocessed. Most of the jeans you will see in stores have been faded or distressed in some way, but not these.
Why get dry denim?
Dry Denim definitions
Honeycombs - The creases that form on the back of the jeans where the jeans bunch up. The ink starts to fade from these creases and leaves a nice pattern that looks like a honeycomb (picture to the right).Selvage - the uncut edge of fabric that is used to make jeans. It generally costs more to get jeans made from this. The fabric is good quality, although not necessarily better than non-selvage denim.
Pre-wash - These are not dry denim. They are jeans that have been faded using techniques such as washing or distressing with tools. They are already processed and will not give you a unique fade.
Dry = Raw - Both mean the same thing. It is unprocessed denim that has not been washed or modified to look a certain way. It is usually a pure blue indigo color distributed uniformly.
Selvage (the red thread)
Dry denim links
- Repeat to fade
- A blog that covers the latest developments in dry denim. Lots of pictures too.
- Nudie Jeans
- A popular Swedish brand that makes high quality dry denim jeans. Lots of good information about dry denim on their site.
- Cultizm Clothing
- A store in Germany that sells dry denim classics from Levis, Lee, Wrangler and Nudie.
- Self Edge denim
- A store in California that sells hard-to-find Japanese raw denim brands like Iron Heart and Skulls. They ship internationally too.
- Blue in Green
- A store in New York City that sells hard to find Japanese raw denim like Warehouse and Samurai. They have a pretty large selection.
- MyNudies Gallery
- Lots of pictures of worn in dry denim. Nice fading in action.
- Context Clothing
- A great online denim shop with very nice photos of all the jeans and over 20 high-quality brands of jeans.
Washing Dry Denim
The reason not to wash jeans too often is that each time they are washed they lose ink. If you wear them almost everyday and then wash them, the patterns from your wearing will be noticeable and will still be there after you wash them.
When you do wash, it is recommended to turn your jeans inside out.
Hot Wash vs. Cold Wash
Hot wash usually shrinks jeans more and fades them more, while a cold wash will shrink them less and fade them less.
Stiffness of dry denim jeans
Over time, the jeans get softer. If you wear them a lot, they will start to get comfortable and broken in even before you wash them. They go through a process of change as you wear them. They start off stiff. Then they get softer. Then they get more faded. And more faded. And more faded.
With normal jeans, the jeans are already faded. All the fun has already been done to them.
Dry Denim Flickr Photos
Drying.
The perfect fit
jeans
Flying The Flag For...
six month wearntear
the wash
Cryptic clothing lab...
Nudie Regular Ralf/Alf
The Dry Selvage costs more (it's around $200-$300 USD) but it is thought to be the most desirable. It is a the regular indigo color but has a shine to it before it is washed.
The Selvage term denotes that the denim was made with selvage, which is the uncut edge of the fabric. You can see the red thread of the Selvage edge if you roll up the jeans at look at the inseam. Non-selvage jeans will generally not have these red threads.
The Greycast is a less common greyish-green type denim. They are not selvage, but they fade well.
Regular Ralf dry denim
Nudie Jeans on Amazon
Nudie Even Steven Dry Denim size 30x34
These are a straight leg jean. What's special about them is that the pockets on the back are noticeably lower than on a regular straight leg pair of jeans. These are good for someone who likes the look of low back pockets but doesn't want to have to wear their jeans down on their hips.
Amazon Price: (as of 10/10/2008)
Nudie Regular Ralph Dry Selvage size 32x34
The are the flag ship of Nudie Jeans. They are the most popular fit and have been around the longest. They are a straight boot-cut, which means they are almost straight leg, but begin to flair out slightly below the knee. This is a subtle touch that can give the appearance of height and is great if you need a wider cuff to go over a pair of boots.
Amazon Price: (as of 10/10/2008)
Nudie Thin Finn Dry Comfort size 33x34
These a skinny jeans, which is in style these days. These have slightly lower back pockets which separates these from other tight jeans. These will look best on skinny people with thin legs.
Amazon Price: (as of 10/10/2008)
Nudie Super Slim Kim Dry Stretch Size 34x34
These are one of the tightest models of Nudie's available. They are ideal for skinny men who find other fits of jeans for men too baggy or for women who want to tight pair of high quality dry denim.
Amazon Price: (as of 10/10/2008)
Grim Tim Dry Dirt Organic Wash size 31x34
This a brand new fit. It's a slimmer jean, that's almost a straight leg but starts to taper below the knee, making it a loose fitting skinny jean. The denim is organic, which in addition to sounding cool, is respectful towards the environment.
Amazon Price: (as of 10/10/2008)
Dry Denim or Worn-in Denim
Shrink to Fit
An example of a shrink to fit (STF) jean is the Levi's 501xx (the "xx" means shrink to fit). There is also a Levis 501, which have already been pre-shrunk, so they won't shrink 10%.
The tricky part about the STF is knowing what size to buy. I recently got a pair of Levis 501xx, and they pretty much fit me before washing. I'm planning on never washing them, or washing them in cold water so they will shrink less.
Nudie Jeans on ebay
A popular brand of dry denim with lots of styles
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
What to look for when picking dry denim
The goal is to get the nicest fading from your jeans
My Nudies Gallery
If you don't know how a jean fades, it's good to look for stiff, rigid, rough denim (not soft!) and an indigo blue color. Some of the darker dry denim colors (like black) sometimes use a different kind of ink that is much harder to fade.
Also, thicker denim is thought to fade better. Denim ranges from around 12oz to 21oz. 21oz is super crazy thick. 12oz is a good summer jean thickness and 14.5oz is good all around and good for fading too.
The tighter you wear your jeans, they better they will fade too. If there are too loose, they will fade in less places.
What's the point of dry denim?
Ideally, you will like the way the denim looks at the beginning when it is fresh and completely untouched. Then you will enjoy wearing them often and breaking them in to get your own personalized fade and wear marks. This may takes months, or years!
So the key thing about dry denim is that it's all about the fading. These aren't the jeans you will wear out for a couple hours once a week or every other week. These are jeans you will wear as much as possible, because you will love wearing them want to transform them into a beautiful worn-in pair of jeans.
Time + Dedication + Patience = SWEET FADES
