Orbiting 400 kilometers above Earth’s surface, the astronauts on the International Space Station live a pretty normal social life, if not for one thing: they happily wear their unwashed clothes for days and weeks at a time. They can’t do their laundry just yet because water is scarce up there.
Orbiting 400 kilometers above Earth’s surface, the astronauts on the International Space Station live a pretty normal social life, if not for one thing: they happily wear their unwashed clothes for days and weeks at a time. They can’t do their laundry just yet because water is scarce up there.
But down here on Earth, washing clothes is a large part of our lives. It’s estimated that a volume of water equivalent to 21,000 Olympic swimming pools is used every day for domestic laundry worldwide.
Fibers from our clothes make their way into the environment via the air (during use or in the dryer), water (washing) and soil (lint rubbish in landfill). Most of this fiber loss is invisible—we often only notice our favorite clothing is „disappearing“ when it’s too late.
How can you ensure your favorite outfit will outlast your wish to wear it? Simple question, complex answer.
When you clean the filters in your washing machine and dryer, how often do you stop to think that the lint you’re holding was, in fact, your clothes?
Laundering is harsh on our clothes, and research confirms this. Several factors play a role: the type of washing machine, the washing cycle, detergents, temperature, time, and the type of fabric and yarn construction.
There are two types of domestic washing machines: top-loader and front-loader. Mechanical agitation (the way the machine moves the clothes around) is one of the things that helps ease dirt off the fabric.
