By James Raia

How to make your clothes last forever

Clothes go out of fashion quickly and that causes us to feel the incentive to buy new clothes almost every season if one wants to keep up with the fast-paced fashion world.

But that is really unfortunate for our planet. Lately, with the talks about sustainability and the zero waste movement being on the rise, a hot topic of how to care for the many items in our home to make them last longer has emerged. This includes clothing as well.

Many world-leading fashion companies have jumped on the bandwagon and started releasing clothes made from ‘ecological’ fabrics that are supposed to be better for the environment. The truth is, however, that no matter how sustainable these clothes are, purchasing them is never going to be better than reusing the clothes you already own.

So what can you do to make your clothes last longer? While ‘forever’ may be hard to achieve, there are some ways to get you there as close as possible.

Learn how to use a sewing machine

A sewing machine is not only used by professionals. Many people keep one at home so that they can do basic clothes repairs by themselves. They are very useful machines and nowadays, they don’t even take up so much space. You can also use them to transform your old clothes into some new designs. This will make you feel much better than buying an unnecessary piece of clothing from a retail store.

For beginners, a Singer Sewing Machine is often recommended. The Singer machines are easy to learn and pretty affordable. There is a ton of online guides on the Internet that will help you become a proficient sewing machine user.

Use proper laundry settings

Check the labels on your clothes to see what laundry settings are recommended. For the temperature, always go with cold water setting, even if the label says otherwise. Hot temperature doesn’t make your clothes any cleaner but can damage the fabric by weakening the threads.

To protect your clothes when in the laundry machine, turn them inside out. This way, the side that you actually care out, the one with embellishments and prints, will stay protected from snags and other damages inside the washing machine. And always use a lingerie bag when washing your delicates.

Abandon dryers

Yes, dryers are extremely useful machines that can get your clothes ready in a short time, but they are also the main culprits behind breakage, shrinkage, and color fading of clothes.

Instead, air dry your clothes on a drying rack or hangers, preferably wooden ones. If you take care to hang your clothes carefully, you will get wrinkle-free garments.

And if you do decide to purchase some new clothes, pay attention to their quality. High-quality fabrics do not get damaged as easily and if you use the methods listed in this article, you can make them last for a surprisingly long time.

For more information, visit the French Garment Cleaners website. They have a vast amount of reviews about various tools you can use to maintain and take care of all of your fabrics.