To prolong the life of jeans, it’s recommended to wash jeans as little as possible, even up to every 10 wears. Obviously if jeans have become muddy, they will need a full wash, however between washes, if jeans are not especially dirty, a spot clean is recommended on certain areas instead, leaving the full wash for another day. If jeans can be treated between washes = even better for the planet. Top tip: Jeans can actually be placed in the freezer (in a sealed air proof bag) for 24 hours. This will freshen the jeans by killing any bacteria and eliminating any odours.

No, you should not tumble dry jeans, this can cause denim to shrink and lose its shape. Once jeans have been washed, air drying outside, or laying the jeans flat is the best way for them to dry out.

If your jeans have been dried flat, or outside in the natural air on a warmer day, they will hopefully not need to be ironed. However if creases have appeared on your jeans, once they are dry, or almost dry, your jeans can be ironed. Choose a temperature suitable for cotton, and place a piece of clean fabric, such as a tea towel, between the iron and your jeans when it comes to ironing them. Start by straightening out the pockets and ironing the legs first.

Jeans are fairly robust, so both hanging jeans or folding jeans to store in a wardrobe or drawer is fine. Folding jeans is beneficial as a space saving method. Avoid folding them too tight to keep them crease free. When storing jeans, alternate the waistbands as you stack them. If you can store jeans next to each other horizontally instead of stacking you will find jeans more easily and avoid creasing other pairs.

Jeans, denim jackets and denim shirts can be treated with special denim care products if you wish to help prolong their life for even longer. Attirecare is one brand who create unique plant-based denim care products (crafted from natural essential oils), that can be used to treat your denim.

When your jeans no longer fit you, or you’re ready to say goodbye to a pair, always consider passing these jeans on to a friend, donate them to a charity shop, or to somewhere that recycles fabrics – denim is a great fabric to reuse for creating new garments. And by making more sustainable choices, this helps reduce landfill waste, too.

100% of Gap’s denim is now responsibly made using our global water-saving Washwell programme. This means that compared to conventional wash methods, Gap’s Washwell initiative uses at least 20% less water. So far, saving 447 million litres of water since 2016 – enough to fill 894 million water bottles. So when you do need to invest in a new pair of jeans, you can be confident Gap jeans will help do good, as well as look good. Check out our women’s denim fit guide, for help on finding the right pair of jeans for you.