Care for Your Clothes (and my favorite products to help you do it well)
In March I shared my laundry tips on Instagram. Turns out that our modern ways of doing laundry are not only terrible for the environment (resource intensive) but also terrible for our clothing. Washing machines, detergents, and machine dryers all contribute to the breakdown of clothing fibers, as well as the release of microfibers (including the especially harmful microplastics).
As Orsola de Castro says in her book, Loved Clothes Last,
“Why care [for your clothes]? Because something as banally simple as the way we wash our clothes is one of those steps we can all take right now to make small changes that aren’t so hard to carry out after all.”
This is why, like wearing and rewearing our clothing, it is important to care for our clothing so that it lasts for a long time. This starts with how we wash it at home.
Below are some of the things I have learned about caring for my clothes, to extend the life of each garment while minimizing the harm on the planet.
Did you know that powdered detergent is generally considered better for the environment? Besides the cardboard packaging (as opposed to plastic for liquid detergents), powder requires less water for washing. While personal preference is the ultimate decider, I love this laundry detergent and its refillable container (which comes as part of the starter set).
Machine dryers use a ton of energy and damage our clothes. I learned about line drying when I lived in Australia, and brought this strategy back to California with me. We line dry all of my husband’s and my clothes — eventually as the kids get older and their clothes last longer, we’ll move them to the dry rack too. The rack we use is no longer available but this clothes-drying rack is very similar. Sunshine is a great way to refresh clothes and they smell even better after hanging in the fresh air than they do from a chemical treatment of freshener.
Wash on cold water. I wash almost everything in cold water. There are very few times I need to use hot water — the cold water is better for the garment, and reduces energy use for heating up the water, which is better for the environment.
Use a microplastic filter with all of your synthetic clothing, which is basically all clothes these days. Earlier this year, Samsung released a microplastic filter for washing machines. However, I use a GuppyFriend Bag or a Cora Ball with every load.
I hope these laundry tips are helpful! Drop me a note and let me know what strategies you use to make your laundry kinder to your clothes and the environment.