Introducing: Jeans That Never Need Washing?

If you’re like many Americans, your go-to fashion piece is a pair of broken-in denim blue jeans.

As I’ve touched on before, you’re most likely washing your favorite wardrobe staple too often and incorrectly, which not only reduces the life of your jeans but also wastes water.

If you balk at the thought of wearing your jeans at least 10 times before tossing them in the hamper, as recommended by Levi Strauss & Co., what would you think if I told you that you never had to wash your jeans again and they’d stay clean and odor-free, even if you spilled ketchup, wine and honey on them?

That’s the claim being made by the makers of Odo denim, dubbed the world’s first self-cleaning jeans. Odo co-founder Salman Chaudry says the jeans will “never stink or stain” and don’t need to be washed.

Say what?

According to San Francisco-based Odo, its jeans have silver fibers permanently woven into the fabric that effectively kill odor-producing bacteria, as well as a coating of a patent-pending material called “NanoSphere” that repels liquids, oil and other potential stains.

“With effective self-clean technology, you would never feel the need to put your [jeans] in the washing machine,” the Odo website explains. The company estimates that about 7,200 glasses of water are used each year to wash a single pair of jeans.

“Not washing a pair of jeans for one year saves the equivalent of five years of drinking water for a human being,” said the company, noting that the average human drinks 1,420 glasses of water annually.

The California startup launched a Kickstarter campaign in early December to raise funds to product its self-cleaning clothing. Odo quickly surpassed its $10,000 fundraising goal, collecting more than $102,000 as of Dec. 30. The campaign ends in late January.

Odo also released a self-cleaning T-shirt. The jeans and shirts should ship in July 2016.

According to Fast Company, critics of the silver-woven anti-odor clothing say it could potentially harm marine life if tiny pieces of silver come loose and wash down the drain during laundering, a concern Odo designer Mannin Malik was quick to refute.

“I’ve researched the environmental side of it,” Malik told Fast Company. “But the whole concept behind this is not to wash your items. You’re basically defeating the purpose if you’re going to start putting it in the washing machine.”

Check out “Warning: Skinny Jeans Could Be Hazardous to Your Health.”

What do you think of Odo’s new self-cleaning jeans? How many times do you wear your jeans before you toss them in the hamper? Share your comments below or on our Facebook page.