Picture the scene: Hands poised, mouth slightly prised. You’re about to take that first, long-awaited bite into a slice of pepperoni pizza. And wow it’s good. It’s so God damn tasty you’re now slowly losing all of you inhibitions and nothing matters apart from you and the pizza. Suddenly, a mix of tomato, oily pepperoni and molten cheese has appeared on your thigh and it’s all localised in one small area. Give yourself a pat on the back and another bite as a celebratory sign of defeat. Don’t leave it there, though, once you’re home you’re going to need to spot clean them, and don’t worry it’s dead simple.

With a dish cloth, or something similar (avoid paper towels, which will crumble when pressure is applied) , run it under the tap with warm water. Apply a little bit of soap—or, if you have it—a denim-specific solution (it’s worth investing in this, the same with a sneaker cleaning solution) and gently dab at the mark. Let it dry and repeat if necessary.

The steps listed above can be applied to both raw denim and distressed or embellished denim. It’s all the same.

Pro Tip: Spot washing is the best for fashionable, high-end denim that has distressed markings, embellishments or prints.

You broke in your raw denim jeans several months ago and they’re now in need of a good clean. So, if you’re going to properly wash your jeans, you first need to turn them inside out, as that’s where the dirt lies. It will also limit the amount of indigo dye that fades when you introduce your denim to water.

Using cold to lukewarm water (anything of a higher temperature will aggravate your jeans and could damage the depth of color), avoid washing them with any other kind of garment—especially if they’ve never been washed before. Add a little bit of washing detergent (Woolite Darks is a popular, fairly accessible cleaning detergent for this), and allow the solution to settle before placing your jeans in the bath.

Place them in and allow them to spread out and float. Leave them for 30 to 60 minutes. You can then repeat this process a couple times more with fresh, clean water and, of course, more detergent. Once that’s done, take them out and find a safe, dry place and lay them down flat. Ideally they should hang dry outside—it sounds obvious, but they’re basically going to drip indigo dye droplets until completely dry.

For preservationists—and ultimately this is down to personal preference—once they’re almost dry—you'll know; just a little bit damp—put them on to reacquaint themselves with your legs and shape. You can then iron the jeans to get the crispy feel, but again, your jeans are temperamental, so be kind and use a small bit of cloth to separate the hot iron with the jeans.

Pro Tip: Bath washing is best for raw Japanese and American denim—the old-school kind. This is the best method for giving your jeans a full-on wash, while attempting to preserve the color depth of the indigo dye and unique fade patterns.

If you’re lazy and can’t be bothered to go through the above ordeal, throw your jeans in the washing machine—but be careful.

It’s simple. Turn them inside out and place them in the drum by themselves. Set the machine to a low temperature (no more than 30-degrees Celsius) and a low spin (a shorthand for American washers would be to set to “Cold” or “Colors”). Once the machine has completed the process, remove them immediately as leaving them in the drum can leave residual marks.

Lay them out flat and, like the bath wash, ideally outside and covered and let Mother Nature do her part and once they’re nearly dry, put them on and allow them to familiarize themselves with your body shape.

If you choose to throw your jeans in the dryer, you should expect shrinkage if you’re drying them completely. Depending on whether or not the jeans have been washed previously, you may end up with denim that has a different fit than what you put in. Regardless of how many washes or wears, you should expect some shrink in the leg width (don’t worry though: generally these should relax as you go through your next few wears).

Pro Tip: Machine washing is best for well-worn mid-wash or light-wash denim. If you’re concerned about maintaining the color or fades of your jeans, then consider soaking them instead. Use the washing machine at your own risk.

For something so bizarre, it's a method that's seemed to proliferate rather far and wide across the men's clothing space.

If your jeans just smell and you think you can simply put them in the freezer and the icy conditions will rid the stench, that’s an urban myth.

Sure, when you freeze your jeans, you're suffocating bacteria—when you put them back on however, your body temperature will awaken the bacteria and you’ll be back at square one. So, take the time and give them a wash using one of the methods listed above.

Even though the "freezer method" is something to avoid in lieu of actually washing your jeans, on the flip side, you should still a make sure you don’t aggressively overwash your jeans.

Pro Tip: Follow the simple rule that, if they need a clean, they need a clean. If they don’t, they don’t. While many items could be alright with a wash after one or two wears, denim jeans were literally designed to handle the rigors of hard work (not to mention general wear-and-tear). Take an educated and informed guess on the state of your denim and go from there.