What if we gave equal attention to maintaining and caring for our clothes, as we did in acquiring them in the first place? According to sustainable fashion scholar Kate Fletcher, in her book Craft of Use, we would see “fashion in a space where we choose ‘to want what one has’ and one where we revel in the power, imagination and possibility that it offers.” The hunter could give way to the guardian.
Caring for your clothes can be an unlikely act of rebellion in a fashion system that is built on short-term trends and low-quality materials and construction. By learning to care for your clothing, shoes, and accessories, you can preserve these items for longer, keep the materials in use, and honor the work of the people who created them.
Much of the environmental impact of a garment occurs when we wash and dry it. For example, washing a polyester blouse half as often can result in a nearly 50 percent reduction in the blouse’s cradle-to-grave energy consumption and air pollution impact (Fletcher, 2014). According to Levi’s, laundering a pair of cotton jeans accounts for 58 percent of the energy and 45 percent of the water used during its lifetime (Levi Strauss, 2012). So just choosing to wash and/or dry less often can greatly reduce our carbon and water footprints, and save us money. Of course, this strategy makes the most sense for pants and skirts, pajamas, or outer layers like sweaters, sweatshirts, and jackets—items that can be worn a few times between washes. See this chart for more specific guidelines on how often to wash clothing items.
When you do wash something, using cold water instead of hot can reduce your household’s carbon dioxide emissions by about 1,600 pounds per year. Collectively, U.S. households could eliminate 34 million tons of carbon emissions by switching to cold-water washing (Fibershed, n.d.).
So how, and how often, we care for our clothing makes a huge difference, but different materials and products have different care needs. The next step, then, is to learn how to read clothing labels. And learn what else you can do to reduce your environmental impact while caring for your clothes with these guides from Eco Age and Good on You.
The New York Times’ T Magazine also has a guide on general clothing and accessory care tips. And the UK nonprofit WRAP collected stain removal tips and more clothing care advice as part of their Love Your Clothes campaign.
These tips for proper care can help extend the life of a garment—if you’re willing to actually practice them. Take a moment to consider—before you purchase something—whether that new item is worth the extra time and effort you might need to give it. Also ask yourself: how realistic is the required care? For example, how likely are you to hand-wash that sweater or take a dress to the dry cleaner? You’re less likely to wear it, and want to keep it for years, if the maintenance doesn’t fit your lifestyle.
Sources
Fibershed. (n.d.). Clothing Guide. Accessed November 21, 2021. http://fibershed.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Fibershed-Clothing-Guide-second-edition.pdf
Fletcher, K. (2014). Sustainable Fashion and Textiles: Design Journeys (Second edition). Earthscan from Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
Fletcher, K. (2016). Craft of Use: Post-Growth Fashion. Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
Levi Strauss & Co. (February 29, 2012). Care for Our Planet. https://www.levistrauss.com/2012/02/29/care-our-planet/