Dry denim is a trend in men’s and women’s fashion that is just starting to go mainstream with non-specialty brands starting to pickup and try their hand at the unique denim style. Dry denim is, in short, denim that has been unwashed by water, usually in a dark-indigo or black color, with a really clean, shiny finish.
In the past few years the style has been popularized by brands like Cheap Monday and a host of other fashion-forward Swedish Labels, but Denim Brands from the United States and Canada are starting to try their hand at the process of creating unique, tough and "raw" denim.
The process of creating this luxurious denim trend is ironic because it is, in many ways, a departure from the now-outdated fad of pre-faded jeans. Dry denim is essentially pure denim, denim that has been woven (often on looms) and then dyed, dried, sometimes coated to preserve the color and signature "sheen," and then made into a specialty pair of jeans, just for you! The idea is pretty simple, so it is sort of miraculous that the trend is just now starting to blow up. Basically, with wear and tear jeans will, of course, get their own unique fades… Something denim designers have tried to replicate, but the effect just isn’t the same.
With a pair of dry denim, the wearer takes on the cotton as their second skin. A tough outer layer that marries itself to the wearer’s lifestyle and to the way their jeans fit. If the wearer likes to don their jeans tightly, for instance, they should expect to first see fading and signs of wear on the knees and thighs. The cool part about the trend, however, is that the wearer of dry denim typically goes as long as they can before washing the garment. Many dry denim enthusiasts swear by going at least six months before allowing the untreated dry denim to touch soap and water. The idea behind this is that on the first wash, if washed separately in hot water, the jeans will not only shrink significantly, they will lose a significant amount of indigo and the "stress" points on the dry denim will become lighter, with their unstressed counterparts maintaining their dark-indigo color.
To avoid washing jeans as long as possible, a lot of guys opt to throw their dry denim in the freezer. Doing this will kill any bacteria on the jeans, and alleviate any smell the dry denim has accumulated. It sounds kind of gross, but dry denim is such a thick, rigid fabric that it does not really feel like it needs to be washed any more than a leather jacket would need to be washed. Spot cleaning is totally allowed, but throwing the jeans into the washer will not be necessary for a few months—plus it ruins some of the fun, doesn’t it?
The beautiful thing about dry denim is that it is not just a senseless fad, what’s coolest about the trend is that dry denim is actually quite a beautiful fabric, having a really unique luster, sometimes heightened by a wax coat, that will really graduate any look. A standard pair of jeans typically looks nice, but dry denim is the kind of denim you can wear with either a pair of skate shoes and a tank top for a laid-back look, or fancy dress shoes and a suit-coat for a killer, suave look that will definitely attract some looks. In the pictures above, note how a pair of dry denim is shiny and clean-looking. Depending on the tightness of the jeans and the cut, the dry denim takes on a completely different look. From hipster to young professional, dry denim is the next big thing in men’s bottoms.
Check out a ton of men’s (and women’s) styles of dry denim (sometimes called "raw" denim) at Karmaloop.
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