How to reduce the impact of our clothes once we've bought them

Discussions around sustainability tend to start with what fabrics to choose and which shops to buy from, and end with the impact the clothes have when they’re disposed of. But what about the middle part? What’s the impact of our clothes once we’ve already bought them, and before we decide to get rid of them? The way we wear and care for our clothes can have a surprisingly large impact on our planet, so how do we minimise our impact?

As students, washing and drying our clothes can be such a chore, especially on top of all the uni work and other adult things like food shopping, cooking decent meals, and managing the rent. But, if we put a little more thought into how we wash our clothes, we can have a surprisingly large impact.

Firstly, we ought to consider how often we wash our clothes. Some things absolutely should be washed after one use, like underwear or the costume you wore to Ocean that’s now covered in sweat and cheap beer, but lots of items like jeans and jumpers can be washed after a few wears.

We can also consider how we wash our clothes. If something has a small stain, it could be cleaned with a damp cloth and a little bit of detergent, rather than being put in the wash. This would help to reduce how many items are going into our washing machines, as washing machines have a surprisingly high cost on the environment. According to a Guardian article quoted in Orsola de Castro’s book ‘Loved Clothes Last’ (a highly recommended read!), a load of washing that is washed at 30 degrees, hung outside and not tumble dried will release 0.6kg of CO2. That still sounds like a lot of carbon dioxide to me, but this figure increases to 0.7kg if the washing is done at 40 degrees, rises to a huge 2.4kg if the wash is put in the tumble dryer and 3.3kg if a combined washer-dryer is used! If you do a weekly wash and dry, that could be 171.6 kilograms of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, per person! This figure massively reduces to 31.2kg if you let your clothes hang up to dry rather than letting the machines dry them.

An easy way to extend the life of our clothes is to look at the care labels to see how they are designed to be washed. By caring for them properly, we can help our clothes to last much longer, and to look good for longer too. Looking at the label of every item you own could take a while, so maybe every time you buy something new, check the label and make a note of whether it needs to be treated differently.

Another way to extend the lifetime of clothing is to embrace how they change over time, rather than always wanting them to look brand new. Sometimes our clothes rip, or seams split, or buttons fall off, and it’s frustrating and makes us want to buy a replacement that isn’t damaged. But clothing can be mended! There is currently a mending revival that has been supported by the popularity of social media. Creatives all around the world are mending clothing in fun ways, including patchworked jeans, bright decorative stitching, and upcycling. With apps like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, learning how to mend your clothes in the style that you like has never been easier, and it means you can have unique items that no one else owns! By washing our clothes properly and mending them as they age, we can easily reduce the impact our clothes have on the planet and the people affected by the fashion industry.

- Tegan