Many of us hate doing laundry, but one Edmonton student took this to a new level when he wore the same pair of jeans for 15 months without washing them, in the name of fashion and science.
Josh Le, currently a third-year general studies student at the University of Alberta, wore a pair of raw-denim jeans from September 2009 to December 2010 to test if bacteria would accumulate on the fabric after extended wear.
Le said he first came up with the idea with a friend as a way to get a trendy worn look.
He said the idea to test the fabric came after his professor, Rachel McQueen, mentioned her research into textiles and bacteria.
At the end of the 15-month period, Lee swabbed the jeans, tested the swabs for bacteria, washed the jeans, and then wore them again for another 13 days before re-testing them.
After 15 months the jeans showed no more bacteria than wearing them for 13 days. Five kinds of skin bacteria were found on the jeans, primarily in the crotch area, but Le said none of the bacteria appeared to have adverse affects on his health.
Le said while his study was by no means official, his findings do help shed some light on the timeless practice of washing your clothes after every wear.
“I think one thing you can take away is that you don’t have to be as obsessive with all the hand sanitizers and stuff,” Le said.
But that doesn’t mean you can avoid the washing machine forever.
Myron Smith, a professor of biochemistry at Carleton University, said bacteria aren’t the only thing that get cleaned away in the washing machine.
“It’s not just bacteria that we’re concerned about. It’s other things in the materials.”
“For example, if you’re allergic to pollen and you’re out in the field and you get a lot of pollen on your clothes. You want to try and get rid of that pollen. So you wash, have a shower, and put new clothes on,” Smith said.
Smith added that changing clothes and other fabrics such as bedding helps prevent parasites such as bed bugs, mites and ticks. He said bacteria are also the major causes of stains and smells on clothing.
“The reason why your clothing gets smelly, if you wear it for a long time, is that there will be microbes growing in there and they’ll produce what we consider to be ‘vile-smelling volatiles.’ ”
Smith also points to nature as an example of why there was no more bacteria after 15 months and than after 13 days. He says at some point the environment of the human body can only sustain so much life before the number of bacteria levels out, or plateaus. Dead bacteria are replaced with new ones but no new bacteria appear, he explained.
Le said he understands his research is very informal and has no plans to publish his findings.
“I think the big thing biologically is that you don’t have to wash your jeans [after] every wear,” Le said. “If you’re in a hostile environment it’s recommended that you do because there are strange bacteria that you don’t want, but for a normal person who just lives an everyday life, like I’m a student, I’m at school for most of the day, you don’t have to wash your jeans as frequently.”
Le said the smell was a natural part of the process and to get rid of it he would place the jeans in the freezer or leave them out to air.