True Blue

Like doing laundry? Don’t buy these jeans

February 28, 2005: Finally, a respectable reason to put off doing the wash. Nudie Jeans, a Swedish line that recently made its way stateside, is manufactured from “dry” denim that’s unwashed, untreated—and meant to stay that way. For the first six months you own them, you’re not supposed to wash your Nudies at all, and you’re advised to do so only rarely after that. A welcome alternative to the overly faded and whiskered denim that (at long last) seems to be disappearing from chicer store shelves, Nudies hark back to more rugged times, when the only creases, thigh-fades and wallet-outlines a pair of jeans sported were those etched by the wearer himself. “Dry denim jeans shows your personality more,” says founder Maria Erixon, a former designer for Lee Europe. “They show the naked truth about your life." (She seems to mean it—her favorite pair sports a back-pocket fade in the shape of her canister of chew.) Nudies come in a variety of cuts, and there are even a few pre-washed models, but we like the simple, straight-leg Regular Ralfs. Head to www.nudiejeans.com for examples of Nudies properly broken in.
$200-$315, available at Barneys New York and Fred Segal in L.A.