Wash, wear and care — a practical guide
We’ve come up with a few tips, in the form of a practical care guide, to increase your products’ lifespan while keeping things like energy consumption, water usage, and contamination to the bare minimum. Shall we begin?
Demystifying clothing labels
How many of us have looked into clothing labels but had no clue what they meant? Knowing how to read and paying attention to clothing labels will help preserve garments and make them last longer. So, let’s jump right in!
Be aware of clothing labels that mention ‘MADE IN (…)’ or that have a special label highlighting this because that may just be referring to the design of the piece itself, not reflecting where it’s made.
It’s also good to question why some garments made from sustainable materials cost such a low amount of money, like an organic cotton t-shirt for 10€. Instead, we must think about what that actually reflects about the brand and its practices.
One of the reasons why sustainable brands tend to have higher prices than what’s considered the average it’s because the product’s price reflects its quality, sustainable and ethical production, and the work done by the people involved in the process.
Loading a new laundry routine
The way we wash our clothes at home tends to cause changes in fabrics and fibers, reducing their durability. To guarantee that your clothes last for years to come, wait until you have a full load and wash them in cooler temperatures.
For example, washing your clothes at 30ºC is equivalent to 40% of the energy used when washing them at 40ºC (WRAP, 2021). This will prevent them from shrinking and decrease the energy use on water heating.
Air dry for the win
The most energy-efficient method to dry our clothes is to air-dry, helping to extend the clothes’ lifecycle and reducing the energy used to generate heat when tumble-drying, for example. A household that runs a dryer on average every 2 days could save approximately half a tonne of CO2 emissions by turning to alternatives such as a washing line or clothes rack (Berners-Lee & Clark, 2010).
Steaming & ironing
Fabrics can be more or less prone to wrinkles and creasing according to their structure. Most garments don’t require ironing when washed on lower cycles, then smoothly stretched at the end of their washing and hung to dry.
In terms of steaming vs. ironing, steaming tends to be gentler to the fabric fibers. Nevertheless, if your garments do need ironing, pay attention to their care label to know at what temperature and setting are safe to do it.
Some washing machines also have available a setting called ‘reduced wrinkles’ that might also prevent creases. Reducing the washing cycle might be another good alternative.
