How to Wash Clothes So They Last Twice as Long

The wear on clothing is dominated by laundering, not use. Fibres abrade against each other, heat sets stains and shrinks natural fibres, and detergent residue stiffens fabric.

1. Use far less detergent

Almost everybody overdoses. The dosing cap is generous, and the recommended amounts assume hard water and heavily soiled loads.

Excess detergent does not rinse out. It stays in the fabric, attracts dirt, stiffens the weave, and in towels destroys absorbency completely. If your towels have stopped absorbing water, this is why.

Try half the recommended dose for a month. In soft water areas, a third is often enough.

2. Wash cooler, but not always

Thirty degrees is enough for normally soiled everyday clothing with a modern detergent. It uses substantially less energy and causes much less shrinkage and colour loss.

The exception matters: washing exclusively at low temperatures allows a biofilm to build in the machine, which causes smells and can transfer bacteria between loads. Run an empty maintenance wash at 90 degrees monthly, with citric acid or machine cleaner and nothing else in the drum.

Bedding, towels and underwear should still be washed at 60 degrees.

3. Turn things inside out and use a lower spin

Abrasion happens on the outer surface. Turning garments inside out puts the wear on the inside, which nobody sees. This is especially effective for dark jeans, printed t-shirts and knitwear.

High spin speeds force water through fibres violently and set creases hard. Dropping from 1400 to 800 rpm leaves clothes damper but noticeably less creased and less worn. For delicates, lower still.

4. Stop using the tumble dryer by default

Dryer lint is your clothing. Every load in the filter is fibre that used to be part of a garment.

Air drying takes longer and costs nothing. If you need the dryer, use a lower heat setting and take items out slightly damp, then hang them — they finish drying without the final high-heat phase that does the most damage.

5. Treat stains before washing, never after

Once a stain has been through a hot wash and a dryer, the heat has set the proteins and it is generally permanent.

• Protein stains — blood, egg, dairy, sweat: cold water only. Hot water cooks them into the fibre.
• Oil and grease: washing-up liquid worked in with a finger, left ten minutes, then washed as hot as the fabric allows.
• Tannin stains — tea, coffee, wine, fruit: rinse from the back with cold water immediately, then treat with an oxygen-based stain remover.
• Ink: isopropyl alcohol on a cloth underneath, dabbing from above so the ink transfers down rather than spreading.

Loading matters too

A machine crammed full does not clean — clothes need room to move for the mechanical action to work. Two thirds full is roughly right, or a hand's width of space at the top of the drum.

Equally, washing three items in a large machine wastes water and lets them tangle and stretch. Wait for a proper load.