The CEO of Levi ’s has swirled up the debate around how often you should wash your jeans once again . His hypothesis , in sum : you should avoid putting your jeans in the washing machine at all costs and only topographic point - clean parts that are sham by stains when needed .

“ I never pronounce do n’t wash your jeans , ” Bergh toldCNBC .

“ rightful jean heads , people that really love their jean , will recite you to never put your denim into a washing automobile . So that ’s what I do , ” he added .

“ If I drop some curry on my jean , I ’m gon na pick it . But I ’ll spot clean it . And if they get really gross you recognize , if I ’ve been out sweating or something and they get really gross , I ’ll rinse them in the shower , ” he said .

Bergh argues that washables jeans is a major part of the wearable ’s carbon footprint . As perOxfam , each pair of jeans creates around 33.4 kilograms ( 73.6 pounds ) of carbon dioxide – comparable to flying a plane around the world 2,372 multiplication . It also take anestimated1,800 gallons of water system to produce the cotton wool in a pair of jeans .

To dampen the shock of denim on the planet , the Levi ’s boss believes consumers should avoid putting their blue jean in the wash machine . inflame the water and powering the machines requires huge sum of muscularity , with theaverage load of laundryreleasing 3.3 kilogram ( 7.2 pounds ) of carbon dioxide .

This might voice a bit utter , but there ’s actually some evidence to indicate that jeans remain outstandingly clean-living without washing .

In 2011 , researcher at the University of Alberta carry out an experiment using one of their student ’s unclean jeans . Josh Le did n’t wash his raw denim jean for 15 month then swabbed them for bacterium . He then put the pants through a washing machine , wore them for another two weeks , and re - examine them .

Remarkably , the level of bacterium did n’t variegate that importantly . The jeans were more or less just as fair after two weeks of wear as they were after 15 months of no washing .

" I expect to find some bacteria associated with the lower intestine such as E. coli , but was surprised to find there were n’t any , just lots of normal skin bacterium , " Rachael McQueen , an Associate Professor at the University of Alberta who carried out the research , allege in astatement .

" This shows that , in this case at least , the bacterium growth is no higher if the jeans are n’t washed regularly , " she added .