Sustainable Laundry Tips + Tricks
Practicing sustainable laundry practices is not just kind to the planet - it’s kind to your clothes!
We’ve rounded up our top sustainable laundry tips to extend the life of your clothes so you can love them longer.
Air dry your clothes when possible
Just think about it, tumbling your favorite garments around on high heat might not be the kindest way to treat them - that little lint trap is full of fibers from your clothes! It’s no wonder how items pill or become threadbare over time. Pilling is caused when friction is applied to a textile. Repeated rubbing causes the yarn to open up and spread apart, forming the little balls on top of the fabric known as “pills” Air drying your clothes can extend their life by reducing friction and heat from a dryer. It also uses no energy.
We recommend using a drying rack like this, especially for t-shirts and other knits, and hanging delicate knits flat to dry. Hanging items to dry on hangers can cause the neckline of t-shirts and sweaters to stretch out over time due to gravity, so these racks help distribute weight evenly. Lay delicate knits or anything with a wide weave flat to dry when possible.Wash on hot only when you absolutely have to.
The temperature of water you use is the most important factor in an eco-friendly laundry routine. Using cooler temperatures also eliminates worry of shrinking anything you own.
If someone in your home is sick with a bug, wash on warm or hot only in those instances (while making sure to follow wash labels).Use a sustainable laundry detergent option.
We love soap nuts . These are natural dried husks from the soapberry nut, and are completely compostable. You can find these at your local zero market, or even Trader Joes! The Trader Joes kit includes a little muslin bag to steep the soap nuts like tea leaves in hot water before throwing the bag with the soap nuts inside into your load of cold wash. If you wash on warm or hot you can throw them in as is, hot water is needed to activate them.
If that’s a little too granola for you there are a lot of innovative products on the market working to cut down on plastic waste like these laundry detergent sheets from Reco Shop.Wash your clothes less frequently.
Big Laundry has brainwashed us into thinking that every article of clothing you put on your body has to be washed after each wear. However, the whole laundry process, even if done gently and sustainably, will eventually cause textiles to break down. We’ve all damaged an item in the wash before.
If you don’t sweat in something, try hanging it back up (perhaps turning the hanger in the opposite direction of the rest to keep track) to wear one more time before washing.