Cleanliness - is Stella Mccartney right or just barking?

Washing clothes releases microfibres which end up polluting the sea.
The recent messages to stop buying cheap clothes to wear once and to wash clothes less are aimed at young people. According to Mumsnet, many families wash every item after every wearing.

Clean pants, bra, socks, stockings or tights (if worn) everyday.

T shirts, summer clothes clean every day.

Jeans, trousers, skirts get 2-3 wears before washing.

Sweaters particularly cashmere I do try to wear multiple times as I abhor hand washing.

Bedding depends on temperature but minimum weekly, towels every couple of days, even though I have a dishwasher tea towels every day.

Then there is the gym kit/stable wear washed after one wear.......no wonder I am constantly ironing!!!!

I agree with Eloethan and Aggie re teatowels and germs. I aim to change every day.

My maximum protection invisible deodorant means there is no sweat. Bra doesn't stretch. I guess it's down to how you feel. I wash my hair every day. Couldn't miss a day and feel good. Others wash once a week.

I don't think that even if I left a t-shirt that had spaghetti bolognaise stains on it for a month of Sundays it would ever become clean.

I am surprised at how many people here don't put on a clean bra each day. A bra is close to your armpits and the sweat glands on your nipples so I'd feel mucky if I didn't have a clean one each day. To me, a bra is not as comfortable when worn a second time as the stretchiness has gone and it's not supportive enough.

I have cut back drastically on washing clothes - underwear and socks of course fresh every day, but jumpers, skirts, trousers - if they are spot free they get aired on the outside of the wardrobe and worn again. I was absolutely knocking the stuffing out of my clothes with constant washing, so now I use the short wash on my machine and my things look newer for longer. A super steam iron is good too - I can hang items and give them a thorough steaming which freshens clothing as well as washing does.

She didn’t say don’t wash your clothes- she said couture wool suits and dresses should be brushed clean, and that most clothes with a “dry clean only” label can be safely hand washed in cold water. She was addressing the environmental concerns about dry cleaning, and about too frequent washing. Nowhere in the article I read did she suggest wearing knickers for a week- perhaps a more careful reading of her article might reassure some of you.

I m a lucky lady who never has sweated I ve never got wet patches under arms like some people do Knick’s have one wear, socks two times, everything else gets washed after a few wears or when I manage to spill something on it
I shower every morning and feel I m clean and wholesome to others nostrils

"I dont know about anyone else but I dont get sweaty much any more. I'm a dried up old lady!"
Me too Kitty.

I think Stella McCartney's clothes are only designed to be worn a few times any way. Who really wants to go around looking that daft?

Eloethan If you bath daily or twice daily surely that will just use up the water you save by using the washing machine less.

I bath every other day unless there is a good reason to bath more frequently, and also wash clothes less frequently (see above). I have a dishwasher so tea towels as well asbathroom towels last a week. No one in my family has ever felt a need to take me aside and say I smell less than fresh.

When I think back to boarding school days where baths and fresh clothes were less frequent than my current pattern, I do not remember there ever being a personal odour problem, other than one or two, whose personal habits were really peculiar.

I remember buying some fabric and asking abiut washing. The shop specialised in mill ends so they didn't know and the lady went on tonsay that people washed stuff far too often and that she hadn't washed her skirt in over 10 years. (not envy).
Clearly she didn't spill things like I do!!

I worked with a lady who stated that before she got dressed she would throw her discarded knickers against the wall. If they didn’t stick, they were worn again. I think she was joking!

From the chief executive of the environment agency (march 2019)
we need water wastage to be as socially unacceptable as blowing smoke in the face of a baby or throwing plastic bags in the sea
He estimates that if we ( not me) carry on as we (not me) are, we will be in serious trouble in 25 years

I dont know about anyone else but I dont get sweaty much any more. I'm a dried up old lady!

I’ve recently developed toenail fungus yuk yuk, from taking the grandchildren swimming and am having a course of treatment. The advice is to clean/disinfect shower after use. Use paper towels to dry feet. Use a separate towel to stand on as well as your own towel. Socks if you wear them must be washed at minimum of 40c. Changed twice a day. Towels washed regularly. Slippers washed daily. Plus all the sprays and creams as well as treatment. Still it seems to be working but it shows how bugs stay around and infect.

should be pillow cases get washed ....
I use protectors so pillows are washed less often

I change the bed every week !! and sometimes the pillows get washed oftener , tea towels washing up stuff and hand towels get thrown in the washer every day but only when there is a fair load do I turn it on ,
That's a great idea putting jeans through a rinse cycle , they don't fade as quickly

I think she was referring to outer clothing, not underwear.

I've been thinking about what she said and I have decided she is probably right. If you bathe daily or twice daily, there is probably no need to wash clothes so often and I suppose there are environmental implications (and there's expense involved too - and more work). I wash tops every couple of wears but jeans perhaps after about 6 wears. I think I'll try and do less washing in future.

I change tea towels every two days though - I'm not a hygiene freak but I believe tea towels and washing up/surface cloths cancarry a lot of germs. I change bedding about every 6 weeks.

Most of my dark trousers and jeans just go through the rinse cycle, sometimes with fabric softener depending on my mood. That is all thats needed and keeps them good.
Like another person we have stuff for working in and then we shower and change. So good clothes are easily wearable 2/3 times. We are much more hygienic nowadays so clothes stay fresh. Knickers changed each day and twice if going out in the evening. Bras tops as needed. Theres no hard and fast rule. Just use common sense. But wearing jeans ten years as one man (can't remember who ) said??? Definitely not.

I reckon I overdo the washing, at least two loads a day and more often than not a couple more. ( That’s for 5 though as I do the washing for DD and 2 DGC). However, reading the same item about Stella M on the BBC website, there was also reference to some executive at Levi’s I think who hasn’t washed his jeans for 10 years! I think i’d rather be the way I am.

I think she is absolutely right, I have been doing something similar for years, not for any worthy environmental reasons but because when you work full time, have two children and a DH who is away a lot, you cut any corners you can find, or at least I did and limiting the number of times clothes were washed and then, where necessary needed ironing, was a real time and hassle saver.

Pants and tights/socks last one day. Bras several, nightdresses a week. After that it is a question of a visual inspection and sniff after each wear, until I decide a wash is needed. use deodarent thoroughly, and tops shouldn't need washing after each wear, unless you are a sweaty individual - andI know some are.

moggie when I lived alone I had a once a week "wash day" of 3 loads (lights/colours/towels, darks, linens & whites)

Family life is constant laundry but it is needed.

I think Stella Mccartney has been misquoted.
The original response was to dry-cleaning and she said she wasn’t a fan of dry-cleaning. She spoke about bespoke suits and the work involved, then she said:

”And the rule on a bespoke suit is you do not clean it. You do not touch it. You let the dirt dry and you brush it off. Basically, in life, rule of thumb: if you don’t absolutely have to clean anything, don’t clean it. I wouldn’t change my bra every day and I don’t just chuck stuff into a washing machine because it’s been worn. I am incredibly hygienic myself, but I’m not a fan of dry cleaning or any cleaning, really.”

So she does use a washing machine but doesn’t just chuck stuff in regardless of how dirty it is. The original interview is here: www.theguardian.com/fashion/2019/jul/07/stella-mccartney-its-not-like-i-am-here-for-an-easy-life?

* Fennel* when i was first married in 1960, we lived in the country and a farmer neighbour used to put goose grease on his children in winter, i often wondered how they kept from sliding around in bed,
It was a common thing in those days, unbelievable as it seems