ABSTRACT
Research from the Netherlands shows that the average piece of clothing stays
in a Dutch person’s wardrobe for 3 years 5 months, is on the body for 44 days
Yet even though the typical garment is only washed and dried around 20
times in its life, most of its environmental impact comes from laundering and
not from growing, processing and producing the fabric or disposing of it at
the end of its life. The washing and drying of a polyester blouse, for example,
uses around six times as much energy as that needed to make it in the first
place.2 Just by washing the blouse half as often, the product’s overall energy
consumption can be cut by almost 50 per cent, with similar savings for air
SustainableFashionandTextiles
pollution and production of solid waste. The message here is stark: the big-
gest gains in environmental performance for many fashion and textile pieces
can be made by tackling the impact arising from their washing and drying.
