Word for word how I describe my own clothing methodology to others. Rock on good fellow.

I usually have 3 decent (not super cheap, but nothing expensive, 40-80€) pairs at a time, they usually last around 10 years, with taking them to get fixed once or twice.

> I don't think it's realistic for you to expect your jeans to last a lifetime.

> I buy decent jeans once a year.

WHAT? I have jeans I got 10 years ago and are still good. And they weren't even expensive

May have to do with how often you wear them. For a few years I wore jeans every damn day, unless there was a funeral or something, and I had a similar rotation: two pairs "active" at a time (with maybe one reserve pair in case the lesser of those two got ruined, assuming I had any older ones that were still wearable)—one for light duty, one for heavy duty, order a new pair of 501s when they're on sale about once a year, they become the new light-duty pair, everything else shifts down, oldest become rags or get thrown out (they were never in good-enough shape to donate, by the time they were leaving my closet).

~$40/yr wasn't so bad.

[EDIT] Oh, and for the record, I minimized washing, though I wasn't as hardcore about it as some people who claim to go months between washes. Every wash seemed to age them a couple weeks worth of wearing.

These days, I wear a lot more wool, linen, and cotton/linen blends for light-duty, and wear a single pair of Prana Zions (very thin mid-tier hiking pants, synthetic material) for anything risky/dirty. The Zions are probably at something like 1,000 wears (for the first couple years I wore them kinda like I had my jeans before—for everything) over five years or so. About a penny per wear. Finally due to be replaced, starting to get enough holes that they're getting iffy for wearing around... people, at all. If I hadn't damaged them with sharp things a few times, they'd probably go another 500+ wears, they're not getting worn-looking anywhere, no stains have proven permanent, nor is any part of them fraying (except at the holes).

This worked for me right up till I had kids. Now, with daily spillage, I'm washing the darned things to death.

Tip: Wash in cold water on the lowest-impact cycle, hang up to dry. Of course I don't know your materials, washer, etc., but for me, everything comes clean with (what seems like) very little impact on the clothing.

I’ll try the hang-drying; appreciate it. Cold water def helps. There’s not much I can do about the frequency, alas.

Try the delicate cycle, too (in case I wasn't clear above). I wash almost all my clothes that way and they come clean.

I have a pair of jeans I still wear around the house that are more than twenty years old. The newer ones don't seem as durable.