How To Care For Your Clothes
You know here at Meadow Collective, we’re all about sustainability. We love to provide you with high-quality, sustainably made pieces that will last a lifetime. We believe in honoring the earth and celebrating slow fashion while still curating our unique styles. So, with that in mind and Earth Day fast approaching, we’ve decided to provide you with some tips on how to take care of your clothes and make them last.
Wash your clothes less. Every time you wash your clothes, especially in the washing machine, you’re putting more stress on them. And while I’m not advocating that you walk around wearing dirty clothes, I am telling you that you don’t need to wash your clothes after each wear. According to USA Today, you can wear your jeans at least ten times before they need to be washed, provided that you don’t spill anything on them. Even brands like Levi and Madewell advocate for washing your jeans as little as possible to preserve their quality and the integrity of the denim.
Washing your clothes too much can also change the size. I know everyone has had that one dress they absolutely adore that shrank two sizes when it accidentally got through into the laundry machine. I always try to limit washing my clothes, and most of the time when they need to be cleaned, I get them dry cleaned.
Meadow Collective rack haul
Air dry. Dryers are a great modern convenience that makes life a whole lot easier, but in reality, they are terrible for our clothes. When you can, always try to air dry your clothes. Drying your clothes in dryers especially using high heat can fade the color of fabrics and ruin the elasticity in some items. Dryers are also the main culprit for shrinking your clothes. But if you can’t get away from drying your clothes in the dryer, always try to use low heat.
Read the care labels. This tip is pretty self-explanatory, but important nevertheless. Care labels are there for a reason. By reading the care labels, you can preserve your clothes and extend their lives enormously. For example, particularly delicate fabrics like cashmere or silk should be hand-washed most of the time. You should only dry clean these fabrics if the labels say so because otherwise, the chemicals involved in the dry cleaning process could actually damage the fabric over a long period of time.
Take care of your clothes!
Only dry clean if necessary. Dry cleaning is great in certain circumstances. However, it is a chemical-intensive process that does have an impact on the environment, and it can harm certain fabrics. To alleviate both of these problems, cut down on your dry cleaning, handwash your delicate items more, and look for a nontoxic eco-friendly drying cleaning service. In Miami, some great green cleaners are dryeco and Iron Steam Cleaners.
Sustainable clothes last longer
Use eco-friendly laundry detergents. Many of the harsh chemicals found in regular laundry detergents can weaken the fibers of your clothes and fade them over a year’s worth of washes, leaving you with a completely different-looking piece. To elongate your clothes’ lifespans, try to use a sustainable, eco-friendly detergent with natural ingredients that gently clean your clothes and maintain their original form and color. Personally, for everyday use, I use the fragrance-free detergent sheets by Kind Laundry. They’re non-toxic, biodegradable, and completely safe for your delicate items. And for spot-cleaning, I use the Vegan Dish Block soap by No Tox Life. Even though this soap is technically a dishwashing soap, it works great to get the stains out of pieces that don’t necessarily need to be washed.
I use this in my own home!
I also use this! And it’s the only laundry detergent that doesn’t irritate my skin!'
Wash inside out. If you have to wash your clothes, try to wash them inside out. Washing your clothes inside out reduces friction among the outside fibers which maintains their appearance over time.
Fix your clothes. A small hole or ripped seam doesn’t mean you need to throw your clothes out and abandon them to the landfill. Instead, take your item to a local seamstress, so that they might fix whatever rip you have.
To read more about how to care for your clothes, check out these other blogs that offer detailed tips about caring for different fabrics and materials.
Preferred fibers
