Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
GreenMatters
Are You Overwashing Your Clothes? This Chart Tells You How Often to Wash Them
By Bianca Piazza,
30 days ago
Getty Images
How often should we be washing our clothes? Back in 2014, Levi Strauss & Co.'s then-CEO, Chip Bergh, turned heads when he said jeans don’t require machine washing .
Bergh personally prefers to spot-clean his jeans. “If I’ve been out sweating or something and they get really gross, I’ll wash them in the shower,” he shared.
But this begs the broader question: How often do we actually needs to wash our jeans, as well as the rest of our clothes? It only makes sense that underwear be washed more often than puffer jackets, but generally speaking, you're likely overwashing certain items in your wardrobe .
Getty Images
A study shows battle between our desire to be eco-friendly and our desire to avoid being perceived as disgusting.
Sadly, people may have a greater fear of being a lil' bit stinky than of wasting the planet's precious resources. As reported by Phys.org , a study from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden , shows that even the most eco-conscious people wash their clothes too often.
"There is a conflict between the desire to reduce one's washing to save the environment and the fear of being perceived as a disgusting person with unclean clothes," study author Erik Klint explained . "The study shows that the higher our sensitivity to disgust, the more we wash, regardless of whether we value our environmental identity highly."
Furthermore, Klint relayed that disgust is an "evolutionarily rooted driving force," while eco-friendly behavior is "a moral standpoint."
For people to change their washing behaviors, human psychology and the "yuck factor" must be accounted for.
iStock
How often you should machine-wash your clothes — save this chart:
Unless some unfortunate dirty incident has plagued your day, you typically do not need to machine-wash most of your clothes after every wear. Of course, not all garments are created equal. The below chart tells you how often to wash various types of garments, according to experts.
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
Welcome to NewsBreak, an open platform where diverse perspectives converge. Most of our content comes from established publications and journalists, as well as from our extensive network of tens of thousands of creators who contribute to our platform. We empower individuals to share insightful viewpoints through short posts and comments. It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency: our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. We strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation. Join us in shaping the news narrative together.
Comments / 0