”Nowadays people are really eager to throw all their clothes jumbled up in at the same temperature,” says clothing industry expert Lassi Järvelä. ”Then they add a lot of detergent and fabric softener.”
Järvelä believes that product marketing has affected washing practices. For instance, fabric softener is very rarely necessary and wears out clothes, for example by reducing their elasticity.
”On average people use too much detergent,” suggests Järvelä. ”Washing temperatures also affect the lifespan of clothes. When cotton or polyester are washed at less than 60 degrees Celsius, it’s impossible for them to get truly clean no matter which detergent is used.”
When clothes remain dirty, their lifespan is reduced. Lower washing temperatures are justified on energy-saving and ecological grounds, but Järvelä is unsure of how much benefit they really are.
Environmental benefits?
”Manufacture of new clothing is a lot heavier on the environment than washing clothes at high temperatures,” opines the expert. ”It seems as though people are now strangers to different materials. Before, clothes were washed by hand and people could feel how they should be washed.”
The washing advice that manufacturers put on clothing labels can sometimes suggest unnecessarily low temperatures. The recommendations often come from fabric makers, and companies are aware that complaints can only be honoured if customers have followed washing guidelines.
”Clothes are washed often and manufacturers put very cautious temperatures on labels to reduce the risk of claims and complaints,” says Päivi Jukkara of the South Karelia district of the Marta home economics organisation. ”But in any case cotton can and should be washed at higher temperatures, at your own risk.”
Jukkara says that washing at higher temperatures can also prevent colours running and remove microbes.
"Clothes should sometimes be washed at even higher temperatures,” advises Jukkara. Clothes can retain a dishcloth smell if the dirt isn’t properly removed.”
The National Consumer Research Centre looked at the matter at the matter of labelling a few years ago, and found that companies were suggesting customers wash their clothes at temperatures too low to get them properly clean.
'30 degree labels had run out'
”Cotton clothes had been given guidelines to wash at 30-40 degrees,” says clothing industry expert Kaisa Virtanen. "Sweat and fat do not get removed at that temperature.”
Järvelä guesses that part of the reason might be that clothes don’t last as long when washed at lower temperatures, and customers therefore buy new items more often.
There have been previous attempts to clarify the matter.
”I asked (clothing companies) the reasoning for the washing temperature guidelines,” remembers Virtanen. ”One firm answered that the product had a 40 degree label because they had run out of 30-degree labels.”