Take care of your clothes while taking care of the planet

February 11, 2025 Shopify Reduncle

How many loads of laundry do you do a year? Have you ever stopped to think about it? In our case, we are two adults and a dog, and we do at least 2 loads of laundry a week. That means we do at least 104 loads of laundry a year . That's a lot of laundry... Since it's such a frequent and everyday act, it's worth stopping to think about the impact it has on the environment and how to make it as respectful as possible.

That is what we propose in this post. We want it to serve as a guide to identify what steps you should take to achieve eco-friendly laundry . We are not only going to talk about the products to use, but also how to make clothes last longer, therefore, consuming fewer of the planet's resources. We are going to focus not only on how to wash, but also on how to pre-treat stains, dry clothes, iron them and store them.

PRETREAT

Of course, it is much more sustainable to pre-treat tough stains than to have to wash a garment twice. The less we wash clothes, the less they deteriorate and the longer they last. So if you see a stain that you think will not come out, apply one of these tricks:

Solid textile soap: El Zorro d'Avi's handmade soap is specially designed for this. And you can also use the Marseille soap . Simply rub the moistened bar on the stain you want to treat and put the garment in the washing machine. This is my favourite express option, as it doesn't require a soak. But the truth is that it's not entirely effective on the most stubborn stains.
Liquid soap : you can do the same trick as above with liquid soap for the washing machine. And, if you use a mild soap, such as homemade liquid Marseille soap (whose recipe we will show you this week on Instagram), you can apply it when you put the garment in the laundry basket and let it sit there until you put the washing machine on.
Sodium bicarbonate : we offer you two options:

Mix baking soda with a little water to make a paste. Put it on the stain and let it sit for about 30 minutes. Then wash as normal.
For very stubborn stains, make the same paste, but with vinegar instead of water. Don't overuse this formula, as it is more aggressive and could damage fabrics. Of course, don't use it on delicate garments. But, before throwing away a garment that has a stain that won't come out, try this trick. It worked for me on tablecloths that I had given up on.

Sodium percarbonate : you can also use it by creating a paste to apply to the stains you want to treat, but this product is more effective for whitening clothes. For this purpose, you can use it in two different ways:

Soaking white clothes a few hours beforehand with 2-5 tablespoons of percarbonate .
Using a washing machine programme with pre-wash. In this case, we will put a spoonful of percarbonate in the space in the drawer corresponding to the pre-wash. If the wash is going to be at 40º or less, we recommend dissolving the percarbonate in a little hot water beforehand.

WASH

Once the clothes that need it have been pretreated, we are going to put the washing machine on. We will fill the drum. Putting the washing machine on half load is a waste of water and energy. Full loads are better . Of course, it is not a question of putting the clothes in under pressure. If there are too many clothes in the washing machine, they will not be cleaned properly. And, if that means repeating washings, it does not make sense.

Choose the eco programme whenever possible . It lasts longer, but works at a lower power and therefore uses less energy . Your wallet will also thank you. In addition, it usually sets the water at 30 degrees, which is also good for clothes, which deteriorate more the higher the temperature.

And here we stop at an important point. As clothes deteriorate during washing, they lose microfibres. So, if you choose clothes made of natural fibres and, therefore, highly biodegradable, you will not pollute the waters, as polyester presses do. For more information on a sustainable wardrobe , check out this blog post .

What soap should you use to wash clothes? Of course, our suggestion is natural ones . Conventional detergents can contain chemicals that pollute water. Some even contain microplastics in their composition under the pretext that they are more effective at removing stains, but at an environmental level they are an absolute disaster. In addition, they are usually packaged in plastic.

Let's see what options we propose:

Wash nuts : a classic of eko cleaning. They are the fruit of the 'Sapindus Mukorisi' tree, which has a high concentration of saponin, a substance that generates a powerful soap when in contact with water. You can use them whole, directly in the drum of the washing machine; in powder form, a tablespoon in the drawer is enough; and you can also make your own liquid soap by boiling 10 nuts, on a low heat, in a litre of water, for 30 minutes. Then strain it and you have a liquid that you can thicken, to give it a gel texture, with guar gum. If you are going to use washing nuts, you should also get some sodium percarbonate, since white clothes tend to take on a greyish colour. Wash nuts can be used for other hygiene and cleaning purposes. You can see it here.
Soapwort powder : comes from the root of the plant 'Saponaria Officinalis' and, like soap nuts, contains saponin. And it can also be used in powder form, by putting a spoonful in the soap dispenser or by creating liquid soap, dissolving the powder in water. You can see more instructions and other uses of soapwort powder here.
Washing strips : a very convenient and effective option, made with natural ingredients and which saves many resources derived from transport due to its lightness and compact size.
Soap flakes : we have two options, Marseille soap or Zorro d'Avi soap, both very effective. You can use them in flakes, placing a couple of tablespoons in the drawer of the washing machine or inside the drum, but only if you are going to use a washing program with hot water. If you are going to use cold water, you can dissolve those two tablespoons in a little hot water beforehand and pour them into the drawer. And finally, you can create your own liquid soap with the recipe that we will give you this week on our social networks.

We recommend not using fabric softener when washing your clothes , but we will explain this in detail in the next blog post, which we will publish this week, in which we will also tell you about the eco-friendly alternatives . For now, let me tell you that not using fabric softener is better for the environment, your clothes and your skin.

DRY

Of course, we recommend air-drying your clothes . It doesn't use any resources and it's free. There will be times when you'll want to dry them in the sun and other times when you won't. Keep in mind that drying clothes in the sun helps to disinfect and whiten them , but it has the downside of leaving the clothes stiff. This can be solved, if you're very careful, by removing the clothes from the sun when they're only slightly damp. I've never had to remember to move the clothesline, hehe.

Be careful, it may seem silly, but use wooden clothespins instead of plastic ones . You know that we are firm believers that the real problem is single-use plastics and that we think that there are certain objects that are not a problem if they are made from petroleum derivatives, if they are reusable. Are clothespins reusable? Yes, they are, but, especially if you hang clothes outside, they deteriorate very easily. How many plastic clothespins have you had that have a piece missing? I still have a few left. And the fact is that being outdoors, they are subjected to sudden changes in temperature and the sun's rays, they deteriorate and break. So they do not have the durability of wooden clothespins.

We recommend that you do not use a dryer as much as possible . On the one hand, it damages fabrics , especially those with a plastic component such as elastic. On the other hand, it is an appliance that uses a lot of energy to do something that can be done without consuming anything at all.

But we are aware that, due to the pace of life we lead, in certain climates and with larger or smaller families, it can become an essential household appliance . If you have to use a dryer, use dryer balls . What they do is separate the clothes, allowing the hot air to circulate more easily, so the clothes take less time to dry. This way, you can use a shorter drying program and save energy .

IRON

Don't iron or do it as little as possible . If you don't iron, again, you save energy, which is synonymous with taking care of the environment. In addition, clothes deteriorate more with heat and last less time. If I iron, I try to use steam or a few drops of vinegar (it doesn't leave an odor), since it makes ironing easier, so fewer passes and less time are required.

Keep in mind that the way fibers are woven in modern clothing means that garments are much less prone to wrinkling. I simply avoid buying clothes made of fabrics like linen, which I know for a fact is very wrinkled .

In addition to this, we suggest some steps to help your clothes wrinkle less :

Don't put clothes in the laundry basket all in one pile . If you do, the clothes at the bottom, bearing the weight of the next ones, will end up very wrinkled. Put the clothes more or less folded, there's no need to go overboard.
Hang the clothes out to dry after washing . Try not to wait too long.
Hang your clothes flat and flat . You can hang shirts and blouses directly on a hanger. There are some items that should be left to dry flat, horizontally, on a clothesline or some other surface.
Store clothes wisely so that they do not wrinkle. We will discuss this in more detail in the next section.

STORE

The last step to finish the whole laundry process is to store the clothes, thinking about keeping them in the best possible condition . Because, as we have been saying throughout the article, if we increase the durability of the clothes, we protect the environment, since we will have to buy less clothes and we will ask the planet for fewer resources. We will also pay attention to not wrinkling them, so that we do not have to iron them and waste energy.

Therefore, we suggest that you hang only certain fabrics or types of clothing on hangers or with clothespins . Those that are very light or very heavy may suffer. Gauze-type fabrics will easily leave marks, damaging the fibre and creating a point of fragility. Thick woollen garments, due to their weight, may stretch and create holes.

Vertical folding , which Marie Kondo popularized, helps keep clothes wrinkle-free. On the one hand, clothes are better protected . On the other hand, most people manage to keep their clothes more organized with this method, so there is no mess in the drawers. But this is not always the case. There are people who do not manage to get by or whose closets are not suitable for this method.

In any case, another important aspect is to store clothes leaving space . It is recommended to leave 30% of drawers and closets free . If this does not seem feasible, you may need to think about whether you have too many clothes or if your closet is too small. The point is that, if there is space, when choosing the clothes you are going to wear, you can easily move the other items without disarranging them and, therefore, without them getting wrinkled.

And finally, it prevents moths from getting into your wardrobes , which could make holes in your clothes. At Alma Eko we can offer you two options: cedar wood discs and a moth-proof bag . Both remedies repel insects and keep them away from your clothes.