7 Mistakes that will ruin your cloth!

Between ignoring your clothing’s laundry symbols and washing your underwear incorrectly, there are plenty of ways that might be shortening the life of your clothes.

Because each one of us throw away about 70 ton of clothes every year, it’s important that we do what we can to reduce the amount of our fashion waste.

Despite using the proper washing techniques which is one of the most effective ways to keep your clothes in the best shape, there’s another factor that plays a role might be ignoring. It’s how you store your clothes.

According to professional organizers Ann Sullivan, the founder of Ann Sullivan Organizing in New York City, and Mindy Godding, the co-owner of Abundance Organizing in Richmond, Virginia, maintaining the right organizing of your clothes would keep them in good shape on the long term.

1: Using the wrong hangers.

Ann told HuffPost: “People spend much money on clothes, but they use crappy hangers’’. She explained that there is a hanger for every purpose and it would preserve your clothes using the right one.

She added: “spending the money on hangers should be a priority”. For example, it’s preferred to use flat, thin hangers for someone who doesn’t have a lot of space. She continued: “it’s really good for dresses and blouses that don’t need a lot of space between them”. Wide-shoulder hangers are for suits, which support the shoulders in men’s suit jackets. She said: “The right size hanger and style are very important’’.

Mindy, recommending match hangers, emphasized that it’s important to find a hanging system that keeps it uniform. For example, find a proper type of hanger for your blouses, and use that same type for all of the blouses in your wardrobe.

She said: “I’ve seen many clients take more care of their clothing if it has that good, clean look when they open the door of their wardrobe. Something about it gives us more accountability to our stuff’’.

2: Stuffing the closet.

If you’re like most people who don’t have a wide closet, then stuffing all your clothes together in a tight space can ruin out faster. When you press all your clothes against each other, you can get creases down your clothing, that’s why mindy advised: “you keep them free and clear’, and that’s to: “maintain the integrity of the fabric’’.

What is ideal space between hangers? According to Mindy, A quarter of an inch of space on each side is the best,  “Being able to slide the hangers back and forth with ease is a good sign, but if you have to push it to slide, it’s a good indication that it’s overstuffed’’.

3: Hanging up the sweaters.

Sweaters shouldn’t be hung on a hanger like shirts. Mindy said: ‘’the fabric will expand and stretch out the shoulders because of the weight of its weight”. You better fold them in half, pull the sleeves in, and drape them inside the hanger, “as if a pair of pants.” You can also fold the sweater around the top of the hanger.

4: Putting everything on hangers.

Socks, bras, underwear, swimming wear and sportswear should be folded neatly in your dresser, as with bras, they should be organized so that their forms aren’t impacted. “Everybody needs both hanging storage and folded storage’’. Said Mindy, “whether a dresser, sliding drawers or bins inside your wardrobe. Bins would be the best.”

5: Not taking care of the out-of-season clothes.

You shouldn’t store Clothes you don’t wear for a year round, such as sweaters and coats during the summer, or our linen shirts and swimsuits during the winter. These should be stored correctly, in clear, airtight bins. Ann said: “loosely roll clothes, not to make hard creases. Imagine folding a cloth for nine months”. “It impacts the integrity of the fabric. There are always little yellowed lines when you unfold it”

She noted that you shouldn’t fold fabrics like summer dresses and delicate clothes. Instead, keep them in breathable cotton garment bags in a cool and dark place.

6: Dry cleaning too often.

“Dry cleaning shortens the lifespan of clothes’, said Ann, adding that in most cases, all you need is a clothing brush for heavier clothes. Hang it on a valet rod and brush the dust, dirt and food out of your suit using a thick-bristled clothing brush for a few minutes. “You’ll have fewer trips to the dry cleaner, plus, it’s better for your clothes’’.

7: keeping clothes in dry cleaning bags.

Plastic bags your dry cleaning comes in, do you know them? You’ll need to get rid of those as soon as you get your dry cleaning home.

Ann clarified that “Dry cleaning is a misnomer, because when the clothes are pressed, there’s still steam involved, which means there’s a little bit of moisture in the clothes”. That’s why she said: “You shouldn’t keep them in a plastic bag; you should take it out and let it breathe”.