Fading your denim - 3 months with the FULLCOUNT 0105XX

Knowing how to get great fades on your denim comes part and parcel with owning selvedge jeans, but it’s still a topic dominated by strong opinions and misinformation. For this reason, I wanted to get hands on with my first pair of jeans from SON OF A STAG and see just how close I could get to my desired fades before my first wash. Today, let’s break down how I went about fading my jeans, the results I saw, and some ways to help achieve the fade you’re looking for!

Choosing the Jeans
Before you do anything, the first crucial step in getting your desired fade is choosing the right pair of jeans to begin with. Depending on brand or sometimes even model, denim will display incredibly different characteristics as it fades, so knowing how specific brands typically fade can help in narrowing your selection. Personally, I’d seen the contrasty friction fades on FULLCOUNT’s worn by members of the shop team, and loved these results, so I knew a pair of 0105’s would probably be the safest bet. Having never spent time working on a fade before and not wanting to worry about shrinkage, I decided to go with a pre-washed pair instead of raw, knowing that this would reduce the contrast of the fades. Typically, raw jeans fade faster and more contrasty than pre-washed pairs because less of the indigo has been settled into the cotton with washing, so if you’re after something incredibly dramatic, raw is the way to go.

Though I chose FULLCOUNT’s, Freewheelers and Warehouse are also known for their incredible fading, and ONI is a great choice for something unique, as their jeans often fade differently depending on the construction of the model!

3 Months of Fading
When I purchased the jeans in early July, my goal was to wear them every day for 3 months before washing to get the absolute best start I could. There’s a proportion of people who wear them longer than this, and I commend it, because the dedication needed is impressive to say the least. While wearing them for an extended period without washing can produce more impressive fades (it allows friction to rub away the indigo for longer, and therefore leaves less leftover when they’re first washed, there are two main reasons I limited myself to 3 months.

Firstly, I was worried about hygiene, as the common ‘put them in the freezer to kill bacteria’ trick is scientifically dubious at very least. While freezing your jeans does temporally stop the smell caused by bacterial waste, it only pauses this cycle, as all the bacteria latched onto your jeans will thaw and start smelling again. I wanted to avoid smell and visible dirtiness, as I’m not sure everyone else in the office would be as committed as I was to my fades!

Secondly, I wanted to ensure the integrity of the jeans! Crotch blowouts are a common complaint on selvedge jeans, and this is usually a direct result of not washing them often enough. Contrary to what many forums may tell you, bacteria eating though the cotton are not to blame here. The culprit is in fact microscopic grit that gets trapped between the fibres of the fabric and gradually degrades areas of high contact, which is most commonly the crotch area! Washing your jeans regularly helps remove this grit, and in turn, prevents blowouts for longer.

The Fading Process
My overall goal was to get some really contrasty fades on my jeans, specifically some honeycombing behind the knees, whiskering on the front, and some wear to the knees. To help guarantee these, I employed a few tricks.

Firstly, I was aware that any fading I’d see pre-wash would come from friction rubbing away indigo on the surface of the denim, so I tried to make sure there was high contact on areas where I wanted fades. While this means the whiskering would be easily achievable, I purposely left the length of the jeans a little longer than I would usually to make sure the fabric was bunching behind the knees. The goal of this would obviously be to promote contact and increase the visibility of the fades.

I also made sure to carry the same essentials in my pockets daily - phone, wallet, lighter - and kept my keys on a chain. All of these would make outline fades over time, something I see as another personal touch that make the jeans my-own.

So I was off. I made it the first month no issues, and by the end of July they were feeling more comfortable and fades were beginning to show, but as August rolled around and the weather started heating up, my choice to do this over the summertime really started to have consequences. The jeans were not only making me sweat buckets, but they were also absorbing it all and looking visibly dirty. By September, I knew I’d have to cut it short, so the wash day came early at 70 days.

After the Wash
Making sure to set the jeans on a cold wash with minimal spin to preserve the shape as much as possible, I left the jeans air-dry for a few days before checking out the results.

My decision to wash early definitely minimised some of the fading I was hoping for, with the honeycombing behind the knees very faint. Overall though, I was happy with the results! The denim was obviously a few shades lighter all over, and the fades that had appeared were great. My wallet and phone outline fades, as well as whiskering being more vibrant around where my keys sat, were all unique aspects that I really enjoyed.

Now, a month in, I’ve washed them once more and the marks are really intensifying. Holding off for my first wash for a little while helped set the fades well, and as I continue wearing and washing them, they’ll head right to where I want them.