No, they are not comfortable. If you have ever worn starched jeans you will understand the stiff feeling you get when you wear them.
The cotton fibers within the jeans are such that when you put jeans on, it morphs with your body and folds easily where they should.
This is why jeans are such easy and casual wear. You can feel how hard the materials are when you touch them, but you can also feel the caressing softness.
When you starch your jeans, you take away this perk of wearing jeans.
Starch cakes the fibers, and the cotton becomes stiff. This takes away the enjoyment you rather get from wearing them.
Are starched jeans still in style?
No, they’re not in style. Except you are a rodeo cowboy (more on this in a bit). If you live in modern times and desire to conform to fashion, you don’t starch your jeans.
This isn’t the 70s. And this surely isn’t 2050 where some think a man would have regressed in fashion and we’ll be walking around looking like retro aliens. But until this modern times becomes what kids would read about in history books, starching your jeans is a no-no.
Here’s a caveat: if you live in Texas and love the way rodeo cowboys look so prim and crisp, then you may consider starching your jeans.
For cowboys, it isn’t a fashion, it is simply how they live. Starch away folks, but make sure you ride a horse right after.
Now if you are going to do this, let it be known that you shouldn’t use too much starch on your jeans. Preferably you should prepare your own starch.
This way you control how stiff the result will be. It is best to pour your prepared starch into a spray can and apply it as you iron press the jeans.
Remember, this is rodeo cowboy fashion.
What do starching jeans do?
Starching jeans do a lot, some are good for you, some not so good. But here are a few things that happen when you starch your jeans.
- Reduction of damage
- Prevents stains from pressing in
- Reduces the quality of the fabric over time
- It gives the jeans rigidity
- Resistance to wrinkling
- It makes the ironing process easy
- It can make it smell
Reduction of damages
One of the things starching does to your jeans is it reduces damage to the fabric. Starch coats the corners and grooves in the jeans. Foreign objects have to go through the starch to get to the fibers of the fabric.
Prevents stains from pressing in
Some stains become permanent when they touch your fabric. What starch dies is it coats the fabric from that kind of stain. When you wash the jeans, the stain washes away along with the starch.
Reduces the quality of the fabric over time
Another thing starch does to jeans is it reduces the strength of the fabric. The more you use it the weaker your fabric gets. The fabric begins to fray after a while and loses quality.
It gives the jeans rigidity
Starch puts some stiffness into your fabric. If you don’t like how soft and droopy your jeans are, applying some starch is a sure way to get them standing on their own, so to speak.
And if you are someone who loves sharp outfits with creases in the pants, then putting starch in your jeans will do just that, giving it the stiffness to make the creases stay.
Resistance to wrinkling
Starch will make jeans resistant to wrinkling. Normally, your jeans will wrinkle at the slightest ruffling and bending. When you put starch in your jeans this wrinkling is greatly reduced making them easy to fold and store.
The ironing process is easier
If you want to enjoy ironing your jeans, add some starch. This is absolutely for those who fancy the idea of iron pressing their jeans. Not many people do and for good reason.
You will look like a nerd or a young professor. The starch in the jeans makes the fabric stiff, and easy to control on the ironing board. The jeans come off looking crisp, and you get a perfect crease.
This is what starch does to your jeans overall.
It can make it smell
If you have a pair of jeans you have starched recently using DIY means like cornstarch, you only need to smell it and you will get a whiff of that peculiar smell.
This is the case especially if you have stored the jeans for a long time after you starch them.
Can you starch stretchy jeans?
Yes, you can. However, you should not starch stretchy jeans. While the process is easy and is the same as with other fabrics if you decide to starch it, there are disadvantages to starching stretchy jeans.
- The stretchy jeans become stiff
- It loses elasticity over time
The jeans lose the stretchiness
Jeans are meant to be stretchy. This allows them to mold with your body, and your knees when you bend them. Though you can use starch on your jeans, this limits the stretchiness of the jeans and will not be comfortable when you wear them.
It loses elasticity over time
Using starch on your jeans makes them lose this elasticity with time. It was found that fabrics lose 31% of their strength after you wash the starch out. Every time you use starch on your jeans, the strength diminishes.
What category of people starches their jeans?
Starching for jeans is not a new practice. Jeans are just another fabric that people starch. The following are the category of people who starch their jeans:
- Rodeo cowboys
- Old people
- Welders
- Nerds
Rodeo cowboys
Take a close look at this category of folks and you’d see their jeans are always crispy and neat. Cowboys are always in close contact with dust and dirt, yet their pants usually look clean.
The reason is that starch impregnates the fibers in the jeans preventing dirt from getting into the crevices in the fiber. Dirt just slides off the jeans while they’re in the field riding their horses or taking care of cattle.
A cowboy’s jeans are heavily starched. You have to see or touch one to know just how starched they are.
Old people
For a reason that has to do with the finicky nature of old people, they love starched jeans. Old folks like to wash all their clothes, iron press them, and fold them up into their closets.
Starched clothes look neater than ones you didn’t starch. They are also quite easy to maintain because one ironing session can keep wrinkles away even after several uses.
Young people are more agile and do not mind iron pressing their clothes before every use.
Welders
Generally, welders starch their work clothes. They usually wear thick cotton or wool fabrics for maximum protection from the sparks and spatter that fall when they weld.
They constitute a category of people who starch their jeans. The starch in the jeans creates a barrier between their spatter of welding material and jeans. Without the starch the spatter creates holes in the jeans, damaging them.
Nerds
This is another category of people you will see wearing starched jeans. Somehow they find it more comfortable and fashionable to starch their jeans.
Contrary to what you may think many nerds care about their appearance, they like a neat crease in their trousers too.
So, if it’s a jean, better believe they will starch that fellow up real good and iron it to perfection. Nerdy professors will do the same.
They usually starch just about any clothes they wear except their sweatpants.
How long does it take to starch jeans?
A minute or two is enough to get the starch assimilated in the jeans.
You could have your jeans starched by the laundry or you can save money by doing it yourself.
To starch your jeans in one or two minutes, follow this instruction:
- Wash and dry your jeans
- When it’s dry, lay it on an ironing board
- Prepare a spray starch, for example, cornstarch
- Shake the bottle, and spray the jeans; start with the areas you would love the starch to get the most
- Iron the jeans slowly
Another method is adding the starch to the washing machine instead of fabric softener after the regular wash. This method is best for when you have to starch several jeans at once.
- Dump your jeans in the washing machine
- Add your detergent
- Rinse after wash
- Instead of fabric softener add the starch diluted in water to the desired thickness
- Hang your jeans on the clothesline to dry in the sun
Conclusion
Fashion is not constant, it keeps changing. What used to be the vogue ten years ago isn’t the same now.
In this article you have learned about what starch does to jeans and the category of people who usually use starch in their jeans.
Jeans fabrics are usually thicker than other pants trousers so you may not consider it necessary to starch them.
But if you love that occasional stiff feel and look, then don’t hesitate to starch your jeans.
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