The most sustainable advice I can give when it comes to clothing, is to always buy secondhand and not buy too much. That’s advice for before you have bought anything. But what about when you’ve already bought clothing? Whether it’s secondhand or new clothing, the most sustainable thing to do is always to make use of the item you bought for as long as possible. Repairing is key and it’s really useful to learn how to repair clothing yourself. But besides repairing (which is a quite obvious point), I am sharing 3 more ways to make your clothing last longer.
1 | Soaking in biotex before washing
This tip is for clothing that stay a bit stinky after you’ve washed them. Clothing that you’ve had for a while maybe. The trick is to put some hot water into a tub, add some biotex (bought in cardboard) to the water and then let the clothes that are stinky sit into the mixture of hot water and baking soda for a night. After this night, you wring out the clothing, put them into the washing machine and wash them as normal together with your other laundry. The smell will be gone after the wash and your stinky clothes will smell like new.
I personally use this tip for my sports clothing. Every once in a while, after about a few months or so of using them, my sports clothing still smells like sweat after I’ve washed them. It’s like the smell of sweat has somehow made its way into the fabric and my normal washing routine is not enough to get the smell out anymore. I was guttered by this problem, because it almost had me buy ‘new’ secondhand sports clothing again and get rid of the smelly ones. Then I heard about this tip from a friend and ever since I have no stinky sports clothing anymore.
2 | Use a clothes shaver
The second tip that I have helps you with clothing that gets fluffs on it easily. For me that’s usually sweaters, but a clothes shaver can be used for many clothing item. All you need to do is buy a clothes shaver. A small or big one, all can be used. Then you just gently go over the clothing with the clothing shaver. It’s not hard at all, the thing can be used only one way. The clothing shaver removes the fluffs on your piece of clothing and makes it look a lot more like new again. Trust me, a clothing shaver makes a huge difference.
I never encourage to buy anything new, this time is no different. Clothing shavers can be bought secondhand easily, because they were more popular under older generations (it’s a shame that its popularity is decreasing). I bought mine secondhand for just 5 euros. I use it very often and I recommend you to do the same. Whenever I see some fluffs on the piece of clothing I am about to wear, I use the clothing shaver. This way you don’t have to ‘do’ all your clothing at once, but you keep them pretty all the time and spend very little time every time you use the clothing shaver.
3 | Get rid of your dryer
This is a tip you might have heard before. Letting your clothing dry on a rack to the air, is a lot better for the fabric than using a dryer. Especially for clothing (it’s less bad for things like towels, but still). It’s quite logical if you think about it, the clothing is subject to heat and rubbing against the dryer itself and other clothing. If you don’t use a dryer all, the clothing will last longer and will stay pretty for a lot longer as well.
The dryer works the same as a car, once you have it, you use it. Therefore, it’s best to just get rid of it all together. What’s the worst that can happen? Maybe you have to wear something different than you had planned. Besides that not having one is better for your clothing, it’s also better for your energy bill and it saves us all resources (because you don’t need to use electricity and the dryer never needs to be produced). It takes a bit more planning, because you need to think ahead about what to wear when. But I don’t mind this at all. And remember: even in a small space drying your clothing on a rack is possible. I lived in about 20 m2 and could manage pretty well. You just have to be smart about it.
Those were 3 ways to make your clothing last longer. They’ve helped me a lot and I hope they will do the same for you.
Yours sincerely,
Romee