How we care for textiles — or most of the time not
Have you ever thought of your laundry strategy? We often talk about the consequences of fast fashion and consumption behaviors when we raise issues of environmental impact. But what about the impact from all the garment that needs to be washed? Did you know that only 7% of an average laundry bag needs washing? What do you do with all clothes that can’t be washed properly today? With a few minutes of reading you will get a new understanding of what part biotechnology can play in creating a more sustainable lifestyle for your clothes.
Pure Effect was launched in Sweden in 2015 — the first in the Nordic market to offer biotechnological garment care and cleaning products for the home. The products are based on an active bacterial culture that cleans deep beneath the surface. They want to make the materials we love last longer and have now created a podcast — Our Bacterial Lives — to show how microorganisms are a vital part of human health and our natural cleaning ecosystem.
The first episode released this February 5 hosts a conversation with textile professor Vincent Nierstrasz, at the Swedish School of Textiles at the University of Borås. His research focuses on surface modification and surface functionalization of textile materials. He believes the future of fashion needs to be a life cycle perspective.
“I sometimes have the impression that laundry is less a science topic in Sweden than in my home country or Belgium. It is a huge water saving thing if we can avoid unnecessary laundry, especially when you consider this at a global level, as well as less damage to clothing”, says Vincent Nierstrasz in the episode and continues.
“Think about all the things you threw away because it can’t be cleaned properly today, or the things you take to the dry-cleaning because a marketer has put instructions on a washing tag. More often than not this can be solved with a more conscious cleaning strategy”.
Microbial cleaning is the teaching that bacteria is not dangerous, but in fact for the benefit of humans, and can be used effectively for degrading dirt and taking care of our materials. Linda Rosendahl Nordin, CEO at Pure Effect, means that there are endless positive aspects of welcoming bacteria into our lives.
“The invisible microbiological world is the foundation of all life, but today we seem to believe that we can eradicate bacteria, clean, disinfect and nibble on antibiotics for a healthier life. When are we going to stop being scared of bacteria? They can sure cause trouble when we get the specific bacteria in the wrong place, but bacteria also give us life. We are destroying the diversity of bacteria that protect us and globally, we create monocultures that have a major climate impact.”, she says and continues.
“With the podcast, we want to challenge the ancient view of bacteria and microbial life as just dangerous. I think, especially after this year, people are becoming more and more aware of our microbial world and our hope is that we start using this resource-efficient technology for building a sustainable society, not just for our internal health system, but for our clothes and things we care for.”
Linda suggests to start using microbial cleaning for things that are difficult to wash and learn more about the vital part bacteria plays in our everyday lives.
What´s your laundry strategy?
10 facts that you didn’t know about the way we wash today.
- The load you put in and the type of textile is related for best results
- Modern washing machines are doing their job better than humans doing hand wash
- You should put your laundry on the balance
- Low temperature waching saves your fibers and is ofter enough to clean properly
- Your machin benefits from a high temperature wash once in a while
- On average, only 7% of your laundry bag needs washing
- Too big load in the machine creates damage to the garment
- Fresh water consumption is becoming more and more problematic
- Chemistry from machines goes into environment
- Dry-cleaning freshens the clothes, but textile garments needs cleaning to get the salts away
