> The bottom line: Little dfference in the bacterial count between the vintage jeans and the ones which had been worn for 13 days.

I don't see why we should care much about count of bacteria here. They suffuse our world whether we like it or not, and if we're lucky a benign one crowds out a hostile one.

As a practical matter we probably care more about which bacteria are there, or how dusty/greasy the pants are.