How to Soften Jeans

Jeans are made of denim, a thick, heavy and strong fabric. This material is treated in various ways to make it fit for wearing. However, some jeans retain the stiffness and heaviness, which make them uncomfortable to wear. Here are some tips to soften jeans without much efforts.

• Remove the tags from the jeans. Turn the jeans inside out and wash it with cold water mixed with a small amount of fabric softener. For this purpose, set the washer and dryer in the 'regular' mode.

• Once dry, iron the jeans; and if needed, industrial starch can be used, to straighten the fabric. Turn the jeans inside out, and place the legs one over the other. Roll the jeans into a bundle, starting from the hem. Roll it tightly, so that the fabric is stretched to the maximum limit. You may also tie the bundle tightly and keep aside for 15 to 30 minutes.

• Open the bundle and place the jeans on a leveled surface, like a table. Take a scissors, knife, sandpaper, or pumice stone to scrape the inner sides of the jeans. Scrape gently in a horizontal manner, and remove the fine fibers that are released by the fabric during the process.

• After scraping both sides of the legs, shake the jeans to remove the fibers stuck to it. Tightly roll the jeans and pound it with some heavy object.
• The next step is to wash the jeans in hot water. One dry, repeat the washing, but this time, add some clean sneakers along with it. The sneakers remove the starch from the fabric when they beat against the jeans.

• Remove the sneakers and add some fabric softener and rinse well. After washing and drying, you can feel the difference. It will get softer, every time you wash and wear the jeans.

Even though distressed jeans are highly sought after as a fashion trend, they are really expensive. However, you can distress regular jeans with some simple techniques. These techniques can also be used for softening jeans. For a distressed look, you have to scrape the outer surfaces of the fabric. If you want to soften the jeans, scrape it uniformly.

You may also bleach the jeans, for that classic faded look. Apart from being trendy, your distressed jeans will be lighter and softer, as compared to its earlier form.

It is always better to try your hand on some inexpensive jeans for the first time. While softening jeans is an easy process, you should not overdo any of the steps discussed above, as it can damage your new jeans.