Care Guide
We’re going to start this by saying Carmico items are machine safe. You can put them through your typical laundry cycle, but the question is: should you?
tl;dr since you’re here to save time
- Wash only when your clothes are visibly dirty or smell bad. This is usually after two to four uses.
- Change out of your nice clothes when you’re at home.
- Reducing the amount you wash saves you time, money, and reduces your energy usage.
- Hang drying is superior, no questions.
- Most daily wear only requires a delicate wash cycle.
- Use mild, eco-friendly detergent.
- Don't mix bleach and vinegar... ever.
Some simple tips
The most important step to keep clothes lasting for a long time is to ask: “Should I wash this?”
🧑🔬We’re going to do some basic math to prove a point.
If your item can be washed 100 times before it starts to show wear, washing it every time you wear it means you get 100 wears. If you wash it every other time you wear it, you get 200 wears. Twice the wears, and you and everyone else around you, probably won’t even know the difference.
If your clothes are unstained and don’t smell bad, you don’t need to wash, and we think you shouldn’t. Here are all the reasons washing less is better:
- It’s cheaper
- Your clothes wear out slower, so you don’t have to replace them as often
- You spend less on water and energy because you’re not running your washing and drying machines
The second most important follow up question is: “Do I have time to hang dry this?”
Hang drying is always better for you clothes, no questions. Other than the breeze that may pass over the fibers, there’s virtually no friction involved when you hang your clothes to dry.
💡A typical drying machine rotates 50-60 times per minute and takes about 45 minutes (and we all know one cycle usually isn’t enough). Even on the low end of this scenario, your clothes are being tumbled a little over 2000 times per dry cycle compared to zero when you hang dry!
The only energy required to hang dry clothes is your own. For typical laundry cycles, hang drying bigger, more substantial items like tops, bottoms, and one-pieces is almost as quick with a drying rack as it is to throw it in the dryer. To save some time, you could machine dry your socks and underwear. Does anyone really care about their basic underwear and socks anyways? Maybe you do if you own a pair of Carmico socks!
Here's a list to keep in mind for each of your cycles:
- Keep like colours together.
- This doesn't necessarily mean all reds together, all blues together, etc. It's more about the colour range and potency of the dyes. Dark colours with darks, light colours with lights, and whites with whites.
- Keep like textures together.
- Back to what we said about how many times your clothes rub against each other in a cycle, if you have a nice, delicate fabric rubbing against your most rugged jeans, or items with zippers, it's not going to last.
- Don't overload the machines.
Laundry Safety
Laundry is a pretty benign task, but there are a few things that can cause serious damage if you don’t know. If you didn't know about these laundry dangers, head to Reddit to see how often these mistakes can happen.
Public Service Announcements
Mixing bleach and vinegar makes toxic chlorine gas
Since bleach and vinegar are both used for cleaning clothes, it must be said that you should never mix the two.
If you have accidentally mixed bleach and vinegar and can smell a strong chlorine smell that hurts your nose, throat, and/or eyes:
- Leave the affected space as soon as possible.
- If it's safe to do so, ventilate the space before leaving. Open all windows and doors to dissipate the gas.
- Call your local poison control center or seek emergency medical care if you have trouble breathing.
Dryer lint can catch fire
Clean out your lint filter after every cycle. Dryer lint is very flammable. When accumulated in the filter and set to high heat, lint can catch fire.
Detergent
There are hundreds of different laundry detergent brands out there. Some savvy homekeepers even get by with just a vinegar solution. The truth is, most detergents do more than they need to and not enough at the same time.
Most commercially available brand name detergents use dyes and the detergent agents themselves are diluted.
You don't need strong detergents unless you're washing work clothes. All of your favourite clothes can be washed with a simple, sustainable detergent. And less is more!
We’re based in Guelph Ontario. If you also happen to be in Guelph, shop from our favourite sustainable cleaning products shop: The Refill Bar.
