How to take care of synthetic clothes
Chances are pretty high that the majority of items in your closet are made from synthetic materials. Maybe you haven't even thought about the consequences synthetic clothing has on the environment, wildlife, and your health. In this article, we explain the problem with synthetic clothes and how to best take care of them - to reduce their negative impact on all living things.
What are synthetic materials?
First of all, we need to find out what synthetic materials are. Synthetic materials are materials made by humans, i.e. artificially. Manufacturing synthetic materials, like synthetic textile fibers such as polyester, elastane, nylon, and acrylic, often involves fossil raw materials such as oil. Combustion and release of oil cause great damage to nature, wildlife, and people, including carbon dioxide emissions and pollution of land and water.
Manufacturing synthetic materials thus have a very negative impact on the environment. Unfortunately, it is not only the production phase that causes major environmental damage. Clothes made of synthetic textile fibers release microplastics when they are washed - microplastics that end up in nature and that remain in nature for a long, long time.
How do I care for synthetic clothing?
So what do you do if all your clothes are made of synthetic textile fibers? The main damage has already been done, that is the production phase, but it's possible to minimize the garment's continued environmental destruction.
When it comes to washing and caring for synthetic clothing, the number one advice is to wash as infrequently as possible and instead air the garment or wash individual stains, rather than the entire garment. Another tip is to use a Guppy friend. Simply described, it is a laundry bag that catches microplastics.
What is a Guppy friend?
Guppy friend is a laundry bag designed to capture microplastics emitted when washing synthetic textiles. It is also possible to wash other textiles such as cotton and wool in the laundry bag; They also shed fiber when washed which is not as harmful to nature and they also break down after a couple of years. The fibers that come loose during washing collect in the corners of the bag and can be easily removed and thrown away. GUPPYFRIEND recommends throwing these in residual waste, preferably in some type of closed container to minimize the risk of the synthetic fibers ending up in nature via the air (instead of the water).
Another advantage - from a sustainability perspective - is that clothes washed in a Guppy friend laundry bag last longer. The amount of fibers that come loose is significantly reduced when using the laundry bag, which leads to less wear and tear and a longer life cycle for your clothes.
Donate & recycle synthetic clothing
Donating clothes to charity or handing in clothes to a recycling center can feel like the right choice. Unfortunately, many of the clothes are shipped to poor countries where they end up on so-called "secondhand" markets. These countries receive so much clothing, much of which is in very poor condition, that it is instead thrown into landfills. So although the idea of donating and recycling clothes is good, it is important to only hand in whole and clean clothes, especially if they are made of synthetic fibers.