How to keep your clothes looking new longer, despite laundering
By Mark Czerniec
October 17, 2007 10:22 AM

Want to still be wearing the duds you bought last weekend well into the 2020s? Sure you do. Here are my top six tips for apparel longevity:

1. Use a front-loading washer

Top-loading washing machines have an agitator in the middle which yanks your clothing clockwise and then counterclockwise throughout the cycle. This is hard on fabric and produces a lot of lint, which is tough on plumbing. Front-loading washers gently tumble the clothes over a longer cycle, producing less damage and lint. Front-loading machines also use less water and less detergent, and they typically spin at much faster speeds, leaving the clothes much drier at the end of the cycle. Europeans know about front-loaders already.

2. Wash your clothes inside-out whenever practical

Turning clothes inside-out reduces wear and tear on the side of the fabric that shows, and gets the side that touches you even cleaner. It also puts outer hardware on the inside, where it's less likely to snag other items.

3. Never ever use fabric softener

Besides being a sudden, full-body allergic reaction waiting to happen, fabric softeners also have the unexpected effect of actually softening fabrics by chemical means. Is this really what you want for your $250 Diesel jeans? Eliminate fabric softener from your life and your clothes will last many times longer, plus your towels will actually absorb water. Yes, your clothes will feel a little bit stiffer — more like new clothes, come to think of it.

4. Never ever use chlorine bleach

Bleach will eat your clothes away in no time, and it can also harm the environment. If you must have whiter whites and brighter colors, learn to use Mrs. Stewart's® Bluing. You'll want to be conservative with it and make sure it's properly diluted so it doesn't turn your clothes blue (I mix several drops in a quart jar of water, then add that through the detergent chute after the clothes have tumbled a couple of minutes and become saturated), but it's non-toxic, biodegradable, and very gentle on fabrics.

5. Never use hot water

The laundry symbols on your clothing care tags will specify either cold or warm water. Follow these instructions. You will most likely never see hot water recommended because it is too harsh for most fabrics and can set stains. Hot water can also melt synthetic fabrics like nylon and polyester, warping their weaves.

6. Air-dry whenever possible

Visit France or Italy, and what do you see? There's laundry air-drying out of windows, there's laundry on clothelines. Clothes dryers eat up plenty of energy while they're beating your clothes into lint. Dryers are much less common in Europe than in the United States, and yet who cares more about clothing than the French or the Italians?

Okay, so maybe line-drying is not entirely practical in Wisconsin in January. Personally, I don't use a clothesline at all because we have berries and birds. Instead, I purchased a twist adjustable-tension shower curtain rod and added rubber leg tips to both ends. This removable accessory gets tightly wedged above the dormer window in the guest bedroom, and plastic hangers are used to dry shirts, T-shirts, thinner jeans, some dresses, skirts, etc. Everything is buttoned and straightened at hanging time, and then 6 or 8 hours later it's all ready for the closet. Sweaters and other fine washables dry flat on a mesh rack. Of course, socks and underwear, bulkier sweatshirts and towels still go into our clothes drier, but there's an energy savings for the things we keep out of it, and there's also much less wear and tear.

I've been watching laundry go 'round and 'round for over 30 years now and I'm still learning. Yesterday, believe it or not, I found a fascinating page about vinegar.