Student Wears Jeans for 15 Months without Washing Them

A University of Alberta student didn't wash a pair of skinny jeans for 15 months and science says the fashion trend is safe, but maybe a tad smelly.

Josh Le wore the same pair of jeans to break in the raw denim, so it would wrap the contours of his body, leaving distinct wear lines.

He had his textile professor test the jeans for bacteria before washing them for the first time.

The results showed high counts of five different kinds of bacteria, but nothing in the range of being considered a health hazard.

Raw denim is not washed or treated when it is manufactured.

A current trend is to wear the dark indigo jeans without washing them to allow the indigo to wear out in the fabric.

After the jeans are washed, they leave a unique pattern based on their owner's body.

Le said some friends were "grossed out" by his experiment, but others thought it was interesting.

"Some people really liked it, but some people were completely grossed out by it," he told The Canadian Press. "I was able to meet a lot more people and have a lot of good conversations. It was like, 'hey, nice jeans."'

When his jeans got a bit funky smelling, Le's solution was to put them in the freezer.

"There were times when it had a bad odour, like in the seventh month," he said. "That's when I threw it in the freezer and magically when it came out it was odourless."

A student gauges bacteria in blue jeans after 15 months of unwashed wear