The "no-wash movement" has been gaining momentum each year. Photo / 123RF
Changing your laundry habits may seem daunting but, for some, the environmental, cost and fabric-sustaining benefits are worth it.
When Sarah Thompson’s washing machine broke three years ago, she took a controversial step. It was the height of the pandemic and she couldn’t get a tradesperson in to fix it, or afford a new one, so she decided not to replace it at all.
“I grew up believing that cleanliness was somewhere close to godliness,” says Thompson*, 36, who works in marketing, and describes her mother as someone who obsessively washed and ironed the family’s clothes. “Towels were used once, as were shirts, bras and jeans. But after travelling and cleaning clothes in a lot of hotel sinks, I didn’t feel daunted by not having a washing machine.”
Spot-cleaning a small mark on a dress rather than throwing it in the laundry basket started to make more sense. And she quickly saw that – underwear and socks aside – her clothes fared remarkably well under this new dirt-friendly regime. “Shirts, dresses and trousers often just need a little spritz rather than a full wash, particularly if you’ve only worn them once or twice,” she says, “and knitwear and jeans shouldn’t be touched at all.” As for her sheets and towels, once a month she takes them to a launderette, which she describes as “more than enough”.
Without realising it, Thompson had tapped into the “no-wash movement” that is gaining momentum every year. In 2019, designer Stella McCartney created headlines by talking about her low-wash habits. “Basically, in life, rule of thumb: if you don’t absolutely have to clean anything, don’t clean it,” she said in an interview. “I wouldn’t change my bra every day and I don’t just chuck stuff into a washing machine because it’s been worn. I am incredibly hygienic myself, but I’m not a fan of dry cleaning or any cleaning, really.”
McCartney, it must be noted, is a mother of four. Other parents might understandably question how she ever attempted to deal with baby and toddler clothes, towels and the seemingly endless muslin cloths produced with this impressively eco stance to laundry…
Other fashion designers agree with McCartney though – and brands are increasingly imploring clients not to wash their clothes too much. The CEO of Levi’s, Chip Bergh, insisted that jeans should never be washed, saying that he “spot-cleans” his denim with a toothbrush because washing them causes them to fade. He’s not alone – many denim brands discourage frequent machine-washing, arguing it will ruin the fit and colour.
Navygrey, a British knitwear company, sells jumpers and cardigans with a tag advising customers to “‘wash less, air more”.
“We believe the longer you leave your knitwear without washing it, the more beautiful it will be,” says Navygrey founder Rachel Carvell-Spedding. “By giving it a chance to breathe, you’ll keep it fresh. Wool is clever. It’s naturally breathable, resistant to odours and dirt. And wool doesn’t really like water. But, even more importantly, you’ll save lots of water – and that helps to save the planet.”
The environment is a major factor in the shift to a low-wash lifestyle – and, water use aside, the biggest issue is micro-fibres. A fleece, for example, is made from petroleum and because it’s not biodegradable, it sheds fibres in the washing machine. A 2016 study showed that, on average, a fleece releases 1.7g of microfibres every time it is washed, with 40 per cent of those microfibres finding their way to rivers, lakes and oceans to be consumed by fish and other wildlife.
If you really need to clean something synthetic, you can use a Guppy bag [fine mesh bag], which retains most of these fibres, but many environmentalists are saying it’s safer not to wash products like this at all. The statistics make for stark reading: around 35 per cent of the microplastics contaminating the world’s oceans come from washing our clothes; they are then ingested by fish and other marine life, which stunts the animals’ growth, makes them infertile and can lead to them dying. Studies vary, but they suggest that each person in the UK could be responsible for between 5g and 2.14kg of microfibres each year.
Then, there are the more selfish reasons for giving up the suds.
“Not really washing your clothes frees up a lot of time,” says Thompson, who still has no plans to buy a new washing machine. She recognises that the fact she lives alone, in London, makes her no-wash laundry approach more manageable than it might be in a busy household with sports-obsessed offspring. But she insists she’s very happy with her methods of choice.
“I never had a tumble drier and not having racks of clothes in my small flat has been a blessing. Not using as much energy must also be saving me money.”
In many ways, this marks a return to how we used to treat our garments. Until the majority of people owned white goods, cleaning clothes was a labour-intensive exercise; once they were ubiquitous, clothes were adapted to become more machine washable.
So how far can you take this? Would it be acceptable, say, to wear underwear three or four days in a row; or follow the more extreme route of one man, who preferred wearing a swimming costume to pants, so he could dispense with the washing machine altogether and allow the shower to wash them.
All this shows an impressive dedication, but the million-dollar question, surely, is on the question of odour.
“I still wash my clothes,” Thompson insists with a laugh. “Just not as frequently. I promise I don’t smell bad – I think we’re all much too afraid of a bit of harmless dirt.”
*Some names have been changed
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