How to stop jeans from getting blue dye on everything?

February 28, 2023 8:59 AM

I bought one of those fancy "selvedge" jeans secondhand on eBay. (I didn't seek selvedge for fashion, they just happened to be my hard-to-find size.) But now they're getting blue on everything and I want it to stop!

They get blue on my skin, on white furniture, on anything. It's so inconvenient that I never wear them. But they are also the only jeans that fit me.

I want to either "fix" the dye permanently so that it never bleeds, or else bleed as much as possible out of them so there isn't enough left to bleed out in the future.

I'm not a raw denim afficianado, and most selvedge or raw denim advice on the internet is the opposite of what I want (they want their jeans to retain lots of blue color, I want to get rid of it). Heck, I wouldn't care if these jeans lost so much color they turn white. I want to get rid of the bleeding at any cost!

My utopian goal is to eventually be able to wash these jeans in a normal cycle with my other clothes without worrying they will ruin everything. Is that ever going to be possible?

If it matters, the brand is Taylor Stitch Brenham.

posted by splitpeasoup to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (13 answers total)

Excuse the obvious- have you washed them for a first time yet? I would probably try on hot with vinegar added in.
posted by raccoon409 at 9:03 AM on February 28, 2023

Fill a bathtub with cold water and soak them for an hour. You'll probably have to weigh them down. When I did this with raw selvedge denim the water actually turned yellow, not blue. Then machine wash them, in a separate load, in cold water using your regular detergent. After washing, shape them and let them drip dry on a rack or using a trouser hanger with clips. They may still transfer a little dye after that, but it shouldn't stain anything permanently. If they shrink a bit there's a whole thing about wearing them wet in order to stretch the denim in the places you need it to stretch, but I've never found it necessary.
posted by fedward at 9:12 AM on February 28, 2023

Also for best results when you machine wash them, turn them inside out (every time), continue washing on cold to minimize shrinkage, and always air dry them. After maybe five washes they probably won't transfer any dye to anything, even in the wash, and you can wash them with the rest of your laundry.
posted by fedward at 9:14 AM on February 28, 2023

There are liquids you can put in the wash to help set some kinds of dye/prevent them from running, but I'm not sure if that's an option with the dyes used with selvedge. Google might, though.

Also, if you don't want to go through this with every new pair and can't find a good fit in stores, take this pair to a seamstress or tailor and ask them to copy it for you in regular denim (or khaki, or anything you want).
posted by trig at 10:19 AM on February 28, 2023

So, local batik manufacturers (who use cotton fabric as their base) learned this trick from the Thais, but is it possible for you to get some sodium silicate and make a solution for those jeans? It's used as a dye fixative, which has been a game changer for local textiles, because with the way it's been done, having colour bleed used to be very common. You only need as much as a dip requires because it's a very one and done treatment. It's common enough for batik that you can also find it sold under 'batik fixer '. (Of course please read up on the instructions if you are considering it)
posted by cendawanita at 11:14 AM on February 28, 2023

This is a serious manufacturing defect, caused by incompetency in applying the indigo dye to the denim. The best answer is always to return the jeans for a refund, probably not an option in your case.

Soaking and washing in HOT water, repeatedly, works best to help remove loose unattached dye. The hotter the water, the better the effectiveness. Of course, this may also change how they fit.

Vinegar and salt will do nothing. Sodium silicate does not work on indigo, only on other classes of dye. Not even Retayne, a miracle-worker for dyes of other classes than indigo, will do the job.

Sorry.
posted by metonym at 2:02 PM on February 28, 2023

Yes I washed them in cold water with vinegar, rinsed, and line-dried, but they are still giving off lots of blue color.

Will try hot water. What a pain!
posted by splitpeasoup at 3:53 PM on February 28, 2023

And a follow-up question: why turn them inside-out? Seems like that is something one would do to retain the color in the wash, whereas my goal is to get rid of it.
posted by splitpeasoup at 3:57 PM on February 28, 2023

Turning them inside out does at least one real thing, which is that it reduces abrasion on the outer surface of the fabric. It also maybe helps reduce any direct transfer of dye when the fabric rubs up against other fabric in the wash (which was my mom’s thing whenever I got new jeans as a kid), but it doesn’t do anything to prevent dye transfer just from the water in the wash. I’ve also seen theories that it will reduce the appearance of white streaks in denim caused by abrasion along the creases and wrinkles that happen in the wash, but I’m not sure it’s possible to prove or disprove that.
posted by fedward at 8:23 PM on February 28, 2023

The term you're looking for is "crocking". I should think multiple washes/soaks will be needed. Can you try wearing them out and about (not at home on your furniture) and washing them weekly and seeing if they improve after 4-6 washes? Keep in mind hot water could shrink them, so I'd stick to warm water, normal detergent, and an extra rinse cycle.
posted by amusebuche at 8:24 PM on February 28, 2023

I'll add that my jeans crock more when damp, so avoid rainy and sweaty situations.
posted by amusebuche at 8:26 PM on February 28, 2023

Raw denim dabbler here. If you do not care about fading them, then wash them in warm water with regular laundry detergent. Personally, I'd use something that doesn't have "color enhancer/brightener" in it as that contains ultraviolet dye that can make the color look off to me, especially in bright light/sunlight. But if you aren't picky, then the best way is to just wash them by themselves with detergent. Maybe a couple times if it's really bad.
posted by SoberHighland at 8:10 AM on March 1, 2023

This is late, but two additional points about washing them.

There is something called color catcher that you can put in the washing machine. Supposedly, it absorbs dye to keep it from your other clothes. I found out about it when I was trying to avoid having the white parts of multi-colored clothes get dingy. As far as I can tell, it works.

If you do end up with clothes stained with dye, Rit Color Remover is a godsend. (And I'm wondering what would happen if you just washed your jeans with it).
posted by FencingGal at 6:31 AM on March 2, 2023