How to Make Your Stuff Last Longer: The Nasty Wash Guide

Killer wardrobe > waste. Check out our tips for laundry.

16.07.21

By Aimee O'Loughlin

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Let’s say you’ve fallen head over heels for a dress you’ve wanted for a while. It’s badass. Flattering. Even has pockets. It’s basically dress sorcery. You finally buy it and tell yourself you’ll wear it for years to come. Dates, weddings… hell, even to go grocery shopping. The question is, how do you make sure it still looks this cute down the line?

So much of the total annual carbon and water footprints are a result of clothing consumption. We’re working hard to reduce the environmental impact of how our clothes are made but we need your help once they’re in your wardrobe. If that killer dress stayed in active use, this would reduce your footprint. Plus, it means extra dollar in your pocket. (And who doesn’t want that?) We’ve compiled some easy ass hacks on how to wash clothes so that you can extend your closet’s life span and help out Mother Earth while you’re at it.

Nasty Laundry Tips and Tricks

Ice Ice Baby

Tips for washing laundry

Need to clean your jeans? Throw ‘em in your freezer. Freezing your denim will kill bacteria and stop them from fading or shrinking, unlike your washing machine. Plus, it’ll save a whole lotta water use. A normal washing machine uses 20 gallons (90L) of water per cycle. This is the same as filling an average-sized bathtub or equates to approximately 30 days of drinking water (if we’re talkin’ the recommended 3L a day!).

Shop jeans

Wash at 30 °C

What temperature should I wash clothes

This will clean your clothes JUST as well as washing them at 40 °C, while saving you electricity and money. Not to mention it uses 38% less energy than it does washing at higher temps. It’s a win-win.

Better Yet – Leave it!

How often should you wash clothes

Only wash when you’ve absolutely gotta. The more you wash, the faster your things will shrink/fade/become less cute.  On top of that, wearing your jeans 10x before washing could reduce water usage by almost 80%. If you’ve got a stain, simply spot clean it.

Shop organic denim

Skip the Tumble Dryer

Benefits of air drying clothes

It wears your clothes out, uses a hell of a lot of electricity, and costs money (you could save up to $226 a year if you stopped tumble-drying your stuff! Damn.) Instead, let them air dry. Easy.

Be kinder to the planet and look like a total hotshot as you go.

SHOP SUSTAINABLE CLOTHING