How Often Do I Have To Change My Pants?

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Hi Adequate Man/Women Advice Columnist(s):

How often should I change my pants?

Matt, 28, Los Angeles

Matt, my boy, it sounds like you need to get a pants rotation going. It’s fine to wear pants a few times in a row, so long as they pass the Smell Test. But that’s not always the only criteria, as our friends over at Lifehacker point out:

The obvious stuff here includes washing socks, underwear, and T-shirts. This is all the clothing that’s closest to your body’s primary sweat glands, shedding skin cells, and skin oils. These should be washed regularly, preferably after each use.

Shirts? Socks? Underwear? Throw ’em in the wash after each wear. The same goes for anything you wear to work out or to otherwise exert yourself. Those tearaway Adidas pants and your sweatpants probably need to be washed more often, because I would imagine there is balls-to-fabric contact going on in those situations. But with pants you’re wearing out into the world, you can decide as you go. Most slacks probably need to be laundered after two wears; a good rule for jeans is to wash them after three or four wears. (Counterpoint: The director of special projects at Levi’s says you should wash your jeans as little as possible—he washes his about once every six months. Maybe stay away from that guy.)

But you’re specifically curious about how often you need to change your pants. I mean, I usually wear different pants every day, but it’s perfectly fine to wear the same pair of jeans or nondescript khakis two days in a row. I do this a lot in the winter, and I know many of my male Deadspin coworkers do as well. As long you’re not rocking a pair of leopard-print or equally loud-patterned pants Monday to Thursday, you can repeat; likewise, as long as you aren’t rubbing your bare taint all over your pants, you should be fine.

It’s a solid rotation that’s key, unless you’re going for some kind of Steve Jobs uniform look. Because wearing the same pair of pants every single day will only leave people with questions of the where did you sleep last night? variety. And Matt, my friend, you don’t strike me as the question-answerin’ type.

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