Tips for How to Care for your Clothes to Make them Last Longer

Tips for How to Care for your Clothes to Make them Last Longer

There are too many new clothes on our planet. We need to slow down production of new garments and use the items we already have for longer. To do that, it’s important to choose any new additions carefully but also to look after the clothing that you already have in your wardrobe. In this article, we are going to have a look at some tips for how to care for your clothes to make them last longer so that you can enjoy them for as long as possible.

• Wash your clothes less frequently.

Washing your clothes too frequently will naturally wear the fabrics out faster. Lots of clothing items can be worn for several days in a row (excluding underwear and socks of course!) if you hang them up between wears. You can even pop them outside in the fresh air for a bit. This is especially great for activewear and jeans!

• Do the laundry right.

When you do need to wash your clothes, do it right. Sort the clothes into dark colours, bright colours and whites and wash these separately. Get into the habit of turning clothes inside out when you take them off as washing clothes like this will reduce the wear too. Read the care labels to check what temperatures are suitable for different items. Choose a cool wash, if possible, especially for any delicate items, and only use a small amount of detergent. Mesh bags are great for protecting delicate items during the wash cycle and are available in different sizes. It’s also important to not overload the washing machine as this can damage the clothing and they won’t get a good clean either.

• Air dry.

Tumble dryers are not just expensive to run but also damage clothing. I would never tumble dry any actual clothes, just towels and things like that unless there was an emergency. Choosing to air dry your clothes on an airer indoors or outside will make them last loads longer! Plus, they’ll be much less creased.

If you do want to iron anything, read the care label first, then choose a cool setting as this is the least damaging choice.

• Learn to treat stains and how to mend clothes.

Knowing how to treat common stains correctly can save many clothes so read up about this and have the right stain removing products available at home for when accidents happen. Learning basic mending skills is also a good idea, even if sewing is not your thing. A small sewing kit is all you need and I like to keep a few iron on patches ready for the kids’ clothes too!