Sustainability Starts at Home

We should all be trying to be more sustainable in our purchasing of clothing. But there is a lot we can do at home to help maintain our clothing, to make it last longer, and in turn not to be wasted. We can do this by adjusting how we wash and store our clothing. Lets start with washing. This is where most of the wear of our clothes happen.

1. Always wash your darks and lights separately. This helps preserve and protect the color of your clothes.
2. Another way to preserve the color is to wash your dark items inside out. It prevents fading, because the part that shows isn’t rubbing against other garments, and keeps the color from leaching.
3. Try to use eco-friendly color safe detergents to try and preserve color.
4. Try and hang dry your clothes as much as possible. Driers can get as hot as an oven, and shake your items quite a bit. This can wear them down quickly. Not to mention things like metal buttons and zippers can get very hot, and damage your clothes. Maybe purchase a drying rack, or a hang line.
5. Read your manuals! Knowing what each setting on your washer does can help you reduce the amount of wear on your clothes.
6. Shower often! This may seem unrelated but the cleaner you are when you wear your clothes, the cleaner they stay, and the less you have to wash them.
7. Reduce your ironing. If you have to iron, use the lowest settings. How you store your clothes is important to. Here are some tips to store for longevity

1. Rotate your clothes. The clean clothes should go into the back, and the older ones should be worn. If you are wearing your clothes evenly, all the items will last longer, due to less overuse.
2. Use better quality hangers. The thin wire ones wear the shoulders of your clothes.
3. Button all the buttons, and zip all the zippers prior to putting your clothes away. This will prevent buttons from being ripped off, and zippers snagging on other garments.
4. Make sure your clothes remain cool, and dry. This will preserve the fabric, and preserve color, and prevent mold growth.

Preserving your clothes is such an easy way to be more sustainable starting at home. The longer they last the less clothes end up in the landfill.