A Four-Word Philosophy, and a Guide to Looking After Your Entire Wardrobe
When I started at Brund in 2012, we were very enthusiastic about “educating” customers. Sometimes too enthusiastic. Henrik, the owner, admits he’s won arguments but lost sales with TMI about jeans and boots. Maybe I’ve done that too.
Way back at my first job in the business, I met Peter Rerskov when he was the sales guy for Wrangler/Bluebell—he’s the one who gave me those 11MW jeans I’ve never worn. We became friends. Years later, he joined Brund as the store manager and simplified the pitch.
Peter’s introduced a four-word philosophy to what the store (and this scene) is all about: “wear, wash, repair, repeat.” It’s a good way to think about raw denim in general, not just care: you wear it, you wash it when it needs it, you repair it before the damage spreads, and you keep going.
In This Issue of the DH Weekly
This one’s about the care guide in the New to Raw Denim series. It’s where I apply that simple logic of how you can make your jeans last longer to the full wardrobe—your base layers, shirts, jackets, boots, and knitwear.
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What I Actually Do—and What Might Surprise You
I’ve been doing laundry since before I moved out. So in our house, my wife will let things pile up until I take over. Very modern family, or maybe I just find laundry oddly satisfying.
I’ve done several guides on how to wash jeans over the years. But never about the rest of the wardrobe. Until now. And some of what’s in the care guide from the New to Raw Denim series might surprise you.
Chlorine bleach on white tees, for instance, not a good idea. Bleach whitens short-term but doesn’t remove the underlying issues. The proteins, oils and aluminium compounds from your deodorant are still bonded to the fibres. Over time, bleach reacts with these and creates new yellow compounds. You reach for the bleach, you make the yellowing worse.
Or what about the fabric shaver—not just for your partner’s delicate knitwear. My first two UHFs—including my red IHSH-127—I picked up secondhand, and they had a little pilling from the previous owner’s wear. Fabric shaver, ten minutes, good as new.
And then there are sneakers. Most of mine I treat as fairly disposable—dishwashing soap on the soles, done. But I have a pair of Japanese-made Converse One Stars I found secondhand in Japan, and those I really look after. The suede, the construction—they’re worth it. And suede isn’t as delicate as you might think, and there’s an easy solution to removing stains.
Repair is the one area where I don’t always follow my own advice. Mending is the part I’m still learning. More than once, I’ve been in a situation where a pair starts going, and I get lazy. Let’s say I’m a month or two from finishing the Indigo Invitational, I’ll let a pair limp over the line and then retire them. My wife recently suggested we find a shared evening hobby. I said we should learn sashiko. She’s still considering it.
The Series Is Already Live
The care guide that this issue’s about is part of the New to Raw Denim series. If you’re starting from scratch, the style guide is the place to go first—it helps you find your denim style before you think too seriously about what to buy or how to look after it.
And if there’s a care question the guide doesn’t answer—something you’ve always wondered about—I’d like to know that too.
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DENIM and PATCHES sourced this post originally published on this site