Wash cold
Cold water cleans just as well and keeps colours bright. Your clothes and your energy bill will thank you.
How to Make Your Clothes Last a Lifetime*
Okay, not literally forever. But with a little care, your favourites can stick around a whole lot longer.
A friendly, no-nonsense guide to looking after the clothes you already love. No specialist tools, no dry-cleaning bills, no wasted weekends.
The Golden Rules
If you read nothing else, read this. Six habits that cover 80% of the work.
Wash less often
Most clothes don't need a wash after every wear. Jeans, knits and wool can go many wears between washes.
Turn things inside out
Protects the outer surface from pilling, fading and general drum-tumble wear.
Air dry when you can
The tumble dryer is the single biggest ager of clothing. Skipping it adds years to most garments.
Zip up, unbutton
Close zippers (so they don't snag) and unbutton shirts (so buttonholes don't stretch).
Don't overload the drum
Clothes need room to move. A drum stuffed full cleans worse and wears everything out faster.
Know Your Fabric
Tap a fabric to see exactly how to treat it. The rules change a lot depending on what it's made of.
CottonTough, breathable, a little shrinky if you get it hot.
How to wash
- Cold water, normal cycle.
- Turn inside out to reduce surface pilling.
- Use a normal amount of detergent. More isn't better.
How to dry
- Air dry where possible.
- If you must tumble, use low heat and pull it out while slightly damp.
Avoid
- Hot washes (cotton can shrink up to 5%).
- Leaving it crumpled damp in the machine for hours.
Why? Cotton fibres are natural cellulose. Heat makes them contract and that contraction is mostly permanent.
Wool & CashmereDelicate prima donnas. Treat them kindly and they last decades.
How to wash
- Hand wash in cool water with a pH-neutral or wool-specific detergent.
- Or use the wool cycle on your machine, inside a mesh bag.
- Wash infrequently. Wool is naturally odour-resistant, air it out between wears.
How to dry
- Dry flat on a clean towel, reshaped to its original size.
- Use the towel-roll trick (see below) to squeeze out water without wringing.
Avoid
- Hot water and agitation (this is how felting happens).
- Hanging wet wool on a line or hanger (it will stretch out of shape).
- The tumble dryer. Ever.
Why? Wool is made of tiny scaled fibres. Heat plus movement makes the scales lock together, which is what shrinks and thickens a sweater into a child's size.
SilkStrong but fussy. Hates heat, hates sunlight, loves gentle hands.
How to wash
- Hand wash in cool water with a silk-safe detergent.
- Swish gently, don't rub.
How to dry
- Press between two towels to absorb water.
- Hang in the shade, away from direct sun.
Avoid
- Wringing or twisting. It breaks the filaments.
- Direct sunlight when drying. UV weakens the fibres and yellows the colour.
Why? Silk is a protein fibre with long continuous filaments. Twist or cook them and you get fuzz instead of shine.
DenimTough on the outside, with dye that lives on the surface and wants to escape.
How to wash
- Wash as infrequently as you can stand.
- When you do, turn inside out and use cold water.
- Wash with similar darks.
How to dry
- Air dry. Lay flat or hang by the waistband.
Avoid
- The tumble dryer. Heat kills the stretch in any elastane and shrinks cotton.
- Washing brand-new dark denim with lighter clothes.
Why? Indigo dye sits on top of the fibre rather than inside it. Every wash nudges a little more of it away, which is why denim fades where it rubs.
SyntheticsPolyester, nylon, acrylic, spandex. Basically plastic. Plastic does not like heat.
How to wash
- Cool or warm water, never hot.
- Use a mesh bag for activewear to catch microfibres.
How to dry
- Air dry, or tumble on low at most.
Avoid
- Hot washes and hot dryers (the fibres literally start to melt).
- Fabric softener on activewear (it clogs the technical fibres).
Why? Synthetics are petroleum-based polymers. Heat softens them, which is what makes them pill, stretch out of shape or lose stretch.
Rayon & ViscoseDrapey and elegant when dry. A wobbly jellyfish when wet.
How to wash
- Hand wash cold or use a delicate cycle in a mesh bag.
- Use mild detergent.
How to dry
- Dry flat, reshaped. Never hang it wet.
Avoid
- Hanging wet (it will stretch and warp).
- Hot water and high heat drying.
Why? Rayon is a semi-synthetic made from processed wood pulp. Wet, it loses up to half its strength and deforms under its own weight.
Pick by Colour
A quick cheat sheet if you only remember the colour, not the fibre.
Darks & denim
Cold water, inside out, dry in the shade. Add half a cup of white vinegar to the rinse to set the dye and keep colours deep. Skip this once a month and you'll see a difference.
Brights
Cold water and a colour-safe detergent. Dry inside out, out of direct sunlight. Sun is gorgeous and also a slow bleach.
Whites & pastels
Wash separately, or with other very pale items. For cottons and linens, drying in direct sunlight actually brightens them naturally. Skip chlorine bleach where you can, it weakens fibres over time.
Mind the Structure
Little prep habits that stop your clothes from destroying each other in the wash.
- Zip up all zippers. An open zipper in a drum is a tiny saw.
- Unbutton shirts and trousers, so the spin cycle doesn't stretch the buttonholes or pop buttons off.
- Put delicates (lingerie, silk, fine knits) in a mesh laundry bag. Even denim benefits.
- Never wring wet knits or silk. Squeeze gently, or roll in a towel and press.
- Dry sweaters flat on a towel, reshaped. Hanging them wet stretches the shoulders into alien triangles.
- Towel-roll trick: lay a wet knit on a dry towel, roll it up tight, stand on the roll. The towel absorbs most of the water, cutting drying time in half.
Spill Emergency
Deep breaths. Speed matters more than anything else you do next.
Never use hot water on a fresh stain.
Heat cooks proteins and pigments into the fibre and makes the stain permanent. Cold water always.
The 4-step rescue (works for tomato sauce, ketchup, most food)
- 1Scoop, don't rub. Lift excess off with a dull spoon or knife. Rubbing pushes the stain deeper.
- 2Cold water, from the inside. Turn the garment inside out and hold the stain under a cold tap. Water pushes particles out the way they came in, not through the fabric.
- 3A dot of dish soap. Gently work a tiny amount of washing-up liquid into the mark with your fingers. Dish soap is designed to break down oils.
- 4If it's stubborn, try vinegar, then baking soda. Soak with white vinegar for 10 minutes, then dab on a paste of baking soda and water. Rinse cold. For whites and light cottons, finish by drying in direct sunlight.
Quick fixes for other classics
Red wine
Blot, then pour generous white wine or cold fizzy water over the stain. Salt on top to draw it out, then cold wash.
Oil or grease
Blot, then cover with cornstarch or talc for 15 minutes to absorb the oil. Brush off, then dish soap and cold water.
Blood
Cold water only. Soak, don't rub. Hydrogen peroxide on a cotton pad for stubborn spots. Never hot water.
Coffee or tea
Cold water from the back of the stain, then dish soap, then a splash of white vinegar if needed.
Ink
Dab (don't rub) with rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer on a cotton pad, switching pads as they pick up colour. Rinse cold.
Please Stop Doing This
The reflex habits that quietly ruin clothes. Easy to break once you know.
- Defaulting to a hot wash. Hot water is for heavily soiled towels and bedding, not everyday clothes.
- Stuffing the drum full. Your clothes need space to move around.
- Reaching for bleach by habit. It weakens fibres and yellows whites over time.
- Relying on dryer sheets. They coat fabrics in wax that builds up, dulls colour and can irritate skin.
- Washing with zippers open. Open zippers snag and tear everything in the drum.
- Washing shirts buttoned up. The spin cycle stretches the buttonholes.
- Scrubbing a stain vigorously. It fuzzes the fabric's surface permanently. Blot and treat, don't scrub.
- Tumble drying on high. Nearly everything prefers low heat or no heat.
Drying in a Tiny Flat
No garden, no balcony, no problem. Space-saving tricks that actually work.
- Ceiling pulley rack. Raises laundry up into the warmest air in the room, keeping the floor clear.
- Retractable clothesline. Stretches across a bathroom or hallway, then disappears back into its housing.
- Over-the-door rack. Uses the back of a door for multiple tiers of drying without mounting anything.
- Tiered mesh airer. Perfect for flat-drying knits and sweaters on multiple levels.
- Towel-roll pre-dry. Roll wet clothes in a dry towel and press to pull out most of the water before drying.
- Small desk fan. A little airflow across your drying rack cuts drying time dramatically and prevents musty smells.
Why Bother?
Keeping a garment in active use for just nine more months cuts its carbon, water and waste footprint by around 20 to 30 percent. It also keeps the pieces you love in your wardrobe, and keeps their resale value intact if you ever decide to pass them on.