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Q: Every pair of jeans I own ends up fading or shrinking. Is denim just high maintenance, or am I just clueless?

A: Yes, denim can be high maintenance, but the good news is maintaining the material doesn’t take too much time.

A.J. Cohen, the owner of downtown Bend’s Local Joe boutique, is a jeans expert. His store does the vast majority of its sales in denim, carrying such popular brands as 7 For All Mankind, Lucky, True Religion and Paige.

“The main thing is to decide how you want your jeans to look when they come out,” Cohen said.

“If you want them dark, wash them cold inside-out; if you want them fatigued or faded, do the opposite.”

The nice thing about denim is that it eventually forms to your body, Cohen says. Over time, the material “remembers” the curves of your body, appropriately stretches and shrinking. That is why many people’s best-fitting jeans are decades old.

Some jeans shrink more than others, depending on how thick the material is or if it’s blended with other materials. Generally, thicker jeans won’t shrink as much as thinner material.

The biggest shrinkage problem with jeans is in the in-seam, which runs along the thigh, and out-seam, which runs down from the hip. You’ll notice that these seams pucker a little bit when washed, which is the stitches shrinking, not the denim.

To keep the seams from shrinking, Cohen recommends tugging on the in- and out-seams, pulling straight down, to keep the stitches running straight.

He also recommends washing the jeans with like colors. If you wash them with towels, throw rugs or anything else that generates a lot of lint, the lint will stick to the denim fibers.

Some jeans may have special washing instructions, but Cohen says the same basic rules apply for most:

• Before throwing them into the washer, turn your jeans inside-out, which will maintain their dark indigo color. Wash them in cold water in the gentle cycle with a gentle detergent.

• If you want them to fade, leave them right-side-out and wash them hot.

• After they finish washing, tug on the jeans’ in-seam and out-seam. Put them in the dryer with a dryer sheet for five to eight minutes (leave them in the whole time if you want them to shrink up to a half inch).

• After a few minutes, the jeans will still be very wet. Take them out, tug on the seams and straighten the pockets and cuffs, button the first button and hang them to dry.

— Anna Sowa, The Bulletin