How often should you wash your clothes?

Speaking to The Observer, fashion designer Stella McCartney talked about her latest collection and the challenges of designing sustainable outfits – nothing particularly controversial there. But there was something in the interview that has got a lot of people talking – McCartney’s throwaway comment, tucked away at the end, on cleaning clothes. She said that “basically, in life, rule of thumb: if you don’t have to clean anything, don’t clean it”, a suggestion that set the internet on fire and prompted many think pieces in all kinds of newspapers. Is she right – are we washing our clothes too much?

This isn’t the first time that McCartney has made this suggestion, and she has long advocated avoiding the washing machine, both to increase the longevity of the clothing and to reduce the impact that washing has on the environment. On suits, she says that it is better just to wait for any dirt to dry and then brush it off. In the interview, she said that she “wouldn’t change [her] bra every day”, something that lingerie designer Naomi De Haan agrees with. Her official advice to people who buy from her label is to wash bras in lukewarm water every five years or so, and to avoid machine washing at all costs because it can destroy fine details and fabrics.

All of this may seem like good news for the student – it’s expensive enough to use the laundry on campus

I always had this idea in my head that you shouldn’t wash your jeans that often – I have the vaguest recollection of an article saying that you should maybe do it yearly, because denim was built to be durable, so I wash them really rarely. And it seems that that idea may have some credence – Sarah Clayton, the head of the Love Your Clothes campaign by the environmental charity Wrap, says that you should air your jeans between wears rather than washing them, and spot-clean them with water if they have a stain. The CEO of Levi’s, Chip Bergh, agrees with this sentiment – in an interview with CNN this year, he said that he hadn’t washed a pair of jeans he wears regularly for the past ten years.

All of this may seem like good news for the student – it’s expensive enough to use the laundry on campus, and it’s certainly a major shift from usual habits. I know people who wash clothes after every wear, with Google searches suggesting the optimal washing time is after every eight wears. Plus, as a segment of society that is likelier to be eco-conscious, it’s all good for the environment – every wash can release an average of nine million plastic microfibres into the oceans, particularly the cheaper, synthetic clothes that are more in line with a student budget.

Some experts suggest that popping your clothes in the freezer is the best way to keep them clean, something that’s bound to go down well in a student house

But is it an idea that we can really countenance? What about the smell, and the risk of poor hygiene, especially in the summer as you’re sweating much more? Some experts suggest that popping your clothes in the freezer is the best way to keep them clean, something that’s bound to go down well in a student house. And, even if you only wash your clothes when necessary, experts are incredibly divided on how often that is. De Haan suggested every five years for a bra, but microbiologist Dr Katie Laird says that every one to three wears is correct.

Professor Andrew Groves, the head of the fashion design course at the University of Westminster, has said of denim that “most people I know don’t wash it at all”, something that he attributes mainly to them not wanting the colour to fade. And this, he says, is an attitude that he hopes people will apply to all of their clothes soon. But no matter how eco-friendly the act is, I don’t see people being comfortable never washing their clothes – even if you stick by the rule of ‘wash when it starts to smell’, that’s something. Washing every wear strikes me as incredibly excessive, but surely there’s a good balance between all the time and never?