Washing & caring for polyester clothing: What you should consider
Polyester is a very popular synthetic fibre that is used in almost all items of clothing. Sportswear and outdoor jackets in particular, but also suits and blouses are made from this synthetic material – often in combination with cotton or viscose. Although polyester is considered very robust, there are a few things to consider when washing it, especially if you want to be environmentally friendly. Find out how you can clean, dry and smooth your polyester laundry sustainably!
November 1, 2024 • 4 min reading time
Wash polyester: This will help your clothes retain their shape and last longer.
Like other synthetic materials, polyester also has some properties that you should be aware of before you put your clothes in the washing machine for the first time. You can usually find the washing instructions on the laundry label of your clothes. But if it has already been cut off, we want to give you the most important general tips for cleaning polyester.
Polyester clothing usually doesn’t tolerate hot washing temperatures. And they are not even necessary, as the synthetic material is quite insensitive to soiling, compared to natural materials. This means that dirt and sweat are absorbed less quickly by the fibres and are more likely to be wicked away. This is one of the reasons why sportswear is often made of polyester.
Polyester also shrinks during washing if you set your washing machine to temperatures that are too hot. This can happen at temperatures as low as 60 degrees. So, it’s best to choose a wash cycle at 30 or 40 °C and make sure the number of revolutions is low so as not to damage the fabric structure and to wash your clothes in the most environmentally friendly way possible.
Sustainability during washing plays a particularly important role with polyester. As it’s synthetically produced fibre, microplastics are released from the fabric with every wash cycle – regardless of whether this is due to overly strong detergents, high washing temperatures or mechanical effects.
To prevent microplastics from entering the groundwater and causing damage to the environment, animals and nature, we recommend using special laundry bags for your polyester clothing. If you put your clothes in these bags when washing them, most of the microplastics will be caught before they can get into the wastewater. You don’t have to worry about a reduced washing performance.
As already mentioned, intensive detergents or chemical washing additives can also release more microplastics from the polyester fibres. Although there is nothing to be said against the use of fabric softeners in terms of fabric properties, it’s better to avoid them or switch to gentler products for the sake of the environment.
When choosing a detergent, it’s important to first separate your clothes by colour. Although polyester cannot stain, you should still choose gentle detergents for coloured items of clothing to avoid damaging the fibres with softeners, surfactants and the like.
To brighten up white polyester clothing and make it bright white again, you can use heavy-duty detergent. It’s therefore best to separate your clothes by colour and possibly even by material. Because if you wash all polyester garments together, you can prevent discolouration of other materials.
After washing, you should also treat your polyester garments with care, as ironing too often and tumble drying can damage the fibres. Here are our tips.
As polyester doesn’t absorb as much moisture as natural materials, for example, tumble drying is usually not necessary. Most garments made from this material should be dry after just a few hours on the washing line. This is the gentlest way to dry polyester.
However, if you want it to go even faster, you can use the tumble dryer. Choose low temperatures and only tumble dry your polyester clothes for a short period of time to avoid damaging the fibres. It’s also best to separate your laundry by material.
Ironing polyester laundry is not absolutely necessary as it’s a very crease-resistant fabric. To avoid creases, especially with material blends, you should hang the washed clothes on the line immediately after washing. You can also hang individual items on a hanger to dry. This will prevent the typical creases in clothes that often occur when drying on a washing line.
If you want your clothes to be particularly smooth – because it’s a business dress, for example – you can use an iron. But be careful: Here too, you should avoid using high heat and turn your laundry inside out when ironing. Even at low temperatures, your polyester clothes will become smooth in no time at all.
A little tip: The steamer is particularly gentle. Whilst you should avoid steam when ironing polyester, you can steam the material without hesitation and thus ensure smooth clothing.
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