Less washing, more steaming!

In an age where sustainability and environmental awareness are becoming increasingly important, we are looking for alternatives to conventional appliances that waste energy and resources. One of the appliances that can play a role in this is the garment steamer. By using your garment steamer more often and skipping laundry, not only will your clothes last longer, but you will also be doing the environment a big favor. In this blog, we will discuss the environmentally friendly benefits of using a garment steamer.

1. Prevent water waste

A fact that really shocked me when I first heard it: did you know that every time you do laundry, you use an average of 60 liters of water? Imagine 60 bottles of cola. The average two-person household does three loads of laundry per week. This results in about 10,000 liters of water used annually for laundry. That's a crazy amount, right?

Fashion designer Stella McCartney said in an interview with The Observer that she never washes her suits or takes them to the dry cleaner, and even added that you should wash as little as possible. She's totally right because, as you can see above, washing your clothes has a huge impact. But does that mean we should stop washing our clothes altogether?

It happens so often that we throw our clothes in the laundry basket at the end of the day, even though they are not really dirty. Unfortunately, this is not a very sustainable habit...

2. Washing results in the release of microplastics

Each wash releases up to 700,000 microplastics, which is extremely harmful to the environment. So it's better to wash your clothes as little as possible, and it's not necessary to wash your clothes after wearing them once, with the exception of underwear, socks, and clothes that have been heavily sweated in, of course.

But why do we all think this is necessary? The answer is simple: clever marketing by detergent manufacturers. Mac Bishop, the founder of a clothing brand whose clothes hardly need washing, experienced this when he worked for Unilever's marketing team: “The only way to grow a detergent brand is to make people think they need to wash a lot.”

3. Reduce energy and steam consumption

In addition to water consumption, there is the energy consumption of a washing machine, which is determined 80 to 90% by the temperature at which you wash. The higher the temperature, the more electricity you consume. And high electricity consumption is not only bad for Mother Earth, but also for your wallet.


Conclusion: washing less is good for the environment
If we all follow Stella McCartney's rule: “If you don't absolutely have to wash it, don't wash it,” we will save the environment a lot. An alternative way to make your clothes smell fresher is to hang them outside for a few hours or steam them. The odors will disappear, and if you make sure there are no stains, there is no reason to wash them at all.


One of the fastest and most sustainable ways to freshen up clothes is to use a garment steamer. Hot steam eliminates bacteria and removes odors from the fabric. This makes it ideal for freshening up clothes after a few wears, without them being dirty enough to need washing.