Keep your clothes looking new year after year

Make your favourite items of clothing last longer with a few of our top tips for keeping your clothes looking great year after year.

Don’t pile them up

Store your clothes sensibly if you want them to withstand years of happy wearing. Rather than leaving them in a pile, be sure to hang or fold them safely.

Switch your hangers

Swap metal hangers for wooden or plastic varieties – metal can rust and stain your clothes. It’s also a good idea to use thick or padded hangers to help preserve shoulders and keep delicate clothing from stretching.

Be smart about washing

It’s true that you want to separate your colours and whites to avoid staining, but you should also be separating your laundry by fabric type. Choosing the right setting for each material will help prolong the life of your clothes.

Turn down the temperature

Wherever possible, avoid the higher temperatures and turn your washing machine down to 30 degrees. A colder wash will put less strain on the clothing, and these days there are plenty of detergents that are now specially designed to work at lower temperatures.

Skip the dryer

Hang your clothes outside or on a clotheshorse to dry and you’re much more likely to have colour and clothes that last.

Don’t wash too often

Washing machines are now so common and easy to use that lots of us wash our clothes far more often than is strictly necessary – would a good airing do instead?

Fasten your zips

When you are washing or drying in a machine, be sure to do up any zips on jackets or trousers – these can attack other clothes and cause holes.

Store shrewdly

When you’re storing clothes, find somewhere dark and safe to do it. Use lavender or mothballs and sealable containers. Vacuum packing your clothes can be a great way to keep them fresh.

Check your water hardness

Find out how hard the water is in your area and adjust the amount of detergent needed according. The softer the water, the less you need and the better for your clothes.

Make and mend

Hold on to spare buttons and keep a variety of colours of thread in the house so you can make small repairs before they have a chance to become big problems.

Protect your delicates 

When washing delicate fabrics or items, put them into a mesh washing bag or pillowcase before popping them in the machine.

Wash inside out

Keep colours fresher and decalls from fading by turning your clothes inside out before washing them.

Do you have any great ideas for keeping your clothes in top shape for longer?