27 Mar 2025
Doing the laundry has never been cooler.
No seriously!
People are finally catching on that colder laundry cycles cut energy bills AND lessen our impact on the environment.
Great to know then that smol laundry capsules have been designed to give incredible results on these cooler cycles courtesy of their cold wash power.
BUT… there’s another brilliant reason to wash our clothes at 20°C or 30°C and it has to do with the lifespan of our clothes.
from laundry to landfill.
We’ve all heard about fast fashion and its negative impact on the environment. The equivalent of a rubbish truck full of clothes hits our landfill every second with many items only worn 7 to 10 times before being thrown out.¹
So why are we throwing out so many clothes? Because they often lose their colour, their softness, their overall fit and that means we no longer wear them.
Anything we can therefore do to extend the life of our clothes should be encouraged!
And the good news is that choosing a colder laundry cycle will do just that!
backed by science.
A study by Leeds University in 2020 found clothes lasted longer and shed fewer microfibres when they were washed in cooler cycles. The study’s main takeaways included:
- washing at 25°C produces 52% less microfibres than a 40°C wash
- Colder washes created up to 74% LESS colour loss in a garment
- A 25°C cycle decreased the incidence of dye transfer in a coloured wash
With 74% of us however sticking to warmer washes AND the same 74% of us experiencing colour fading² - this really is the easiest way we can protect ourselves against this frustration.
And in a further study (AEG 2024), various washing methods were carried out on different fabrics with the upshot being…
… cooler washes EXTEND the life of our clothing!
5 smol ways to longer-lasting clothes.
So let’s get more from the clothes we love with these 5 smol steps that will help keep those clothes fresh in your wardrobe and OUT of landfill. Here are five ways how to make your clothes last longer.
1. no wash washing.
It's easy to go on auto-pilot and put your clothes straight into the washing basket without really taking a good look at if we can get another wear out of the item, or seeing if there's another solution to popping it straight in the machine.
Luckily we’ve got 5 top tips for no wash washing right here!
2. turn down the temperature.
Wash your everyday laundry on 20°C or 30°C instead of the typical 40°C-60°C that so many of our standard settings use. You’ll save money and energy, your clothes will shed fewer fibres and lose less dye PLUS they’ll last you longer overall.
3. check your machine manual.
Use your washing machine manual to really get to know your appliance. Less than 46% of us admit to reading this instruction booklet but it’s worth a peruse because you may well discover some great options for your varying laundry loads.
4. check your default.
Many washing machines have a default temperature setting for its set programmes and most of these can be CHANGED! If your default is around 40°C then turn it down to 30°C or 20°C (another reason to check out your manual!).
5. Less time.
Pick shorter wash cycles… the less time your laundry is tumbling around in your machine, the less opportunity there is for dye loss, fibre damage and garment shrinking. When you’re using a great quality detergent like smol laundry capsules or smol laundry liquid shorter cycles that are less than an hour will STILL give you the deep down clean you need.
¹ earth.org 2023
² AEG 2024