Subtotal: $0.00
Shipping calculated at checkout
Easy and simple
Tips for
lasting joy
Taking proper care of your garment can significantly extend its lifespan, conserve natural resources, and reduce textile waste.
There are a few things you can do to extend the life of your Summer Born pieces.
Wash Less
Only wash as needed. This first tip is the easiest but the most effective.
Although items like underwear and socks should be washed after each wear, not every garment has to be washed immediately. Not only will you save water and detergent, but your clothes will last much longer.
Wash In Cold Water
Washing your clothes in cold water is better for the environment and your clothes.
Water heating accounts for most of the energy consumed by washing machines. Hot water can indeed be useful and necessary in some specific circumstances. However, suppose every household switched from hot to cold water four out of five times per week. In that case, they could reduce their annual CO2 emissions by 392 kg.
Apart from the environmental benefits, washing clothes at cooler temperatures protects the colour of our clothes and helps prevent shrinkage and fibre degradation.
Skip The Dryer
The high heat from machine dryers can be harsh on garments, shrink the fabric, loosen elastics, and cause colours to fade.
An average drying machine uses just over 417kWh of energy and produces around 188 kg CO2 per year when used twice per week. It’s way better to air-dry.
Instead of throwing everything in your dryer, try hanging or flat drying as much as possible. It is better for the environment, in return, you will save electricity and make your clothes last longer.
Smooth Wrinkles
Many garments made with natural fibres only get better over time when properly cared for. To keep the natural look, avoid ironing. If your garment has minor wrinkles, hang it in your bathroom while taking a hot shower. The steam created during a hot shower is usually enough to smooth out most creases.
The crispest look is usually achieved with an iron, but using a steamer is less time-consuming and reduces the risk of damaging a wide range of fabrics.
Always follow the temperature specified on your garment when ironing. We also recommend placing a damp cloth over the garment to be ironed. This will protect the fabric when the iron touches the material.
Stop Microplastic
During machine washing, synthetic clothes spin around and rub against each other, which causes tiny pieces of plastic called microplastics to shed. As a result, microfibers end up in wastewater systems, air, waterways, and oceans, causing plastic pollution.
The easiest way to reduce microplastic while washing is hand washing your synthetic garments in cold water. You can also install microplastic filters or wash your garments in filtering wash bags to capture microfibers.
If you have to machine wash, separate soft from rough fabrics and use a lower spin setting. This will minimise friction and abrasion of textiles which help reduce the shedding of microfibres.
Care And Repair
Learning to mend our clothes will prevent them from ending up in landfills. Adding just nine months to the life of a garment can reduce its carbon, waste and water footprints by 20 to 30%. Beyond that, taking the time to repair our clothes can also help us fall back in love with them.
With a thread and needle and the help of YouTube tutorials, minor damages like loose buttons, unravelled edges, and torn seams can be easily fixed. For some mending projects beyond a basic DIY effort or in cases where you don’t have the time, a good tailor can be an incredible help.
