Care Labels, Decoded: Making Good Clothes Last Longer

A garment does not usually wear out. It gets washed out, too hot, too often, and tumbled dry until the fibres give up. Three small changes will keep the clothes you already own looking new for a great deal longer.

Colder, and less often

Thirty degrees removes ordinary wear from ordinary clothes. Reserve hot washes for genuinely soiled items, and air knitwear between wears instead of washing it on a schedule.

The dryer is the expensive part

Tumble drying is what pills knitwear, shrinks cotton and cracks prints. Drying flat costs a few hours and saves whole seasons.

Buy less, choose well, make it last.

A principle worth repeating

Store it properly

Hang structured pieces on shaped hangers and fold anything knitted. A shoulder bump is a hanger that was too thin, not a fault in the garment.