To agree with Stella McCartney that we don't need to wash our clothes so often

[LauraMontreville]

And the experts on Jeremy Vine (R2) agree with her.
And so does some bloke who sells Levis.

I know MN loves excessive laundering but apparently it's better for our clothes and the planet to wash them less.

I hate how much washing I'm having to do with a weaning baby. I'm pretty careful with my own clothes but it seems he needs a change of vest after most bloody meals!

I do think we have become ok with thinking that everything needs washing twenty times a day. The impact on the environment is really scary.

Nice to see some sensible posters braving the inevitable "dirty sod" posts that will probably follow later

Or the inevitable 'grim'

Pyjamas twice unless it's hot and sweaty weather

I wear pyjamas for a week.

Ooh! That word.... yes!

I agree! I have that gene where I don't really get BO (unless I'm stressed, for some reason) so I wear all my things several times before washing. Pyjamas once a week.

Knickers and socks are the only things I wash daily. Judge me but you'll never smell me!

I would love to do this but I am very sweaty and I wear dresses so the whole thing has to go in the wash after one wear. DH also sweaty so his shirts go in after one wear. He wears his trousers a few times before washing however.

I change underwear everyday and socks. Tops usually once or twice then in the wash. But jeans and skirts and dungarees get worn until they are dirty, which might be weeks!

We wash when needed and the clothes are a bit 'worn' or covered in food. Even then only on a 14 minute 'freshen up' cycle unless they're heavily soiled. Unless you're frequently a sweaty mess or use obscene amounts of muck in every day life anything more isn't needed. We do two loads a week max even with a 2yr old.

@ItIsWhatItIsInnit do you only have one set of underwear or something?

Do you mean wash daily or change daily?

Bras, Pants, Socks daily.
DP has a very dusty / messy job so his t-shirts get washed after one use, but he wears the same trousers every day.
I sit in an office all day so leggings get 2 wears, dresses tend to just get one as I sniff the pits if they smell then it gets a wash. Might try the air out method then see if that cuts down the washing a bit.
Towels are once a week.
Bedding is longer than I'd admit to on MN

Washing aside (I'm in the wash less camp, FWIW), what a snidey interview. Clearly the writer went in with an agenda to not like SMc and take the piss and while SMc did say make some eye-roll-inducing statements, I'd love to read the entire transcript because I bet anything they've been tweaked out of context.

Wear a t shirt, hang it up to air. That might take a few days, but then you can wear it again. Unless you don't wash your body or use deodorant.

*@ItIsWhatItIsInnit do you only have one set of underwear or something? confused

Do you mean wash daily or change daily?*

Sorry I mean change daily. I don't put a wash on anywhere near daily!

I would LOVE to not have to wash my tops so often, but my tops smell of BO by the end of the day. In fact, if I'm going out in the evening I will change my top if it's been a warm and/or busy day.

Jeans and trousers I wear for a lot longer. Jackets and cardigans I'm terrible with, I should probably wash them more frequently than I do.

It was a pretty snidey interview.

1 underwear and socks washed after 1 use
2 tops couple of wears
3 jeans 4-5 wears
4 jumpers/cardigans 3-4 wears
5 gym outfits 1 wear

2-3 have the sniff test, these are average wears depending on what they smell like or what i have been doing

I'm thankfully not a sweaty person (except gym) so i get away with less laundering, others may not be so lucky

My husband's clothes have to be washed daily as he gets dirty and dusty at work and he is smelly by the end of the day. I wash as needed really but in the summer I do wash things more due to sweat. Our sheets are once a week as we both sleep naked, socks and similar daily. I don't own any trousers as I only wear dresses and I have a few so we do maybe one load a week

Knickers and socks are the only things I wash daily. Judge me but you'll never smell me!

Waits for the ineveitable comment about nose blindness and people who don’t wash twice a day not realising they stink.

Then the comments about being able to smell someone who hasn’t showered that morning, who has had a strip wash, who hasn’t got a clean bra on, or being able to smell the dirty fuckers on their period...

Why do we bother training scent dogs when there are mn’ers who could do the job easily...

Up to a person how often they wash their clothes.

Hmmn I think there may be a bit of self interest own Stella McCartney's part - I used to have quite a few items of her sports range, and they don't stand up to washing well at all compared to for instance Nike. They're very expensive too. Nice stuff, but they just look tatty and old quite quickly compared to other ranges. And obviously you do have to wash sportswear each time you wear it.

Jeans and some other trousers, cardigans, jackets, etc can easily go several wears between washes.

She's a cog in the wheel of an industry that is disproportionately responsible for accelerating the destruction of the planet - albeit one who wouldn't be there were it not for her nepotistic gift.

She has 4 children and swans around the globe, no doubt in private jets.

Her footprint is gargantuan. Simply gargantuan.

Please, shut up and go sit next to Emma Thomson on the bench and try to be quiet.

Do Levis have any synthetic material in them? My jeans have a bit of spandex type content. I used to like a certain company's jeans but they have decreased the % of cotton and increased the spandex. It makes them much sweatier. I wonder if Levis are all cotton and if that is why they don't need to be washed as much.

I will keep trousers going as long as they can, and hoodies. I've had to change underwear in the day due to heavy underboob sweat and groin sweat; this can't be helped. T shirts or tops last one day if I'm lucky. My eldest kid has inherited my sweat issue.

Summer is great, turn clothes inside out, hang them on the line and let the sunshine do the work!

@CuriousaboutSamphire

^This is absolutely the thing to do. Even a small air current will remove the microscopic dust and other detritus leaving clothes smelling fresh. This is one of life's secrets and its better for the environment and your skin too.

Waits for the ineveitable comment about nose blindness and people who don’t wash twice a day not realising they stink.

Haha - I actually have the opposite problem. Some people smell SO strongly of washing powder/fabric conditioner - they walk into the office and it's like being back in the laundry aisle in Sainsbury's. They have probably got desensitised to it.