How to wash and store your summer clothes? I have sorted them out for you!

As the summer heat subsides, the autumn and winter seasons are about to arrive. At this time of year, everyone will inevitably go through their wardrobes and take out last year's autumn and winter clothes, while summer clothes are often "washed out" and put away for the next year.

So, what should we pay attention to when washing various clothes on a daily basis? What should we pay special attention to when storing seasonal clothes? What preparations should we make when we use clothes that have been stored for several months again? Let's talk about it today.

Guess how dirty the clothes you used are?

Clothes need to be washed when they become "dirty". Daily washing is mainly to deal with various stains on clothes. It is also strongly recommended to do a comprehensive cleaning of clothes when storing them during the change of seasons to remove stains attached to the clothes, so as to prevent these stains from gradually causing discoloration of the clothes, changes in mechanical properties, etc. during the storage process of several months.

Copyright images in the gallery. Reprinting and using them may lead to copyright disputes.

Generally speaking, depending on the source of the pollutants, clothing pollution can be divided into internal pollution and external pollution. Outerwear and other clothing are easily polluted from the outside during wearing, while underwear is mainly polluted from the inside, and summer single clothing is polluted from both the inside and the outside.

Table 1 Sources of pollution in clothing References: Jin Xuling. Pollution phenomenon of clothing during wearing [J]. Shanghai Textile Science and Technology, 2012, 40 (07): 27-29.

From the perspective of the causes of pollutants, clothing pollution can be mainly divided into: 1) caused by direct contact with pollutants; 2) caused by electrostatic adsorption; 3) caused by microorganisms; 4) caused by external force impacting dust; 5) caused by temperature gradient, etc.

In daily life, people tend to pay more attention to cleaning external pollution, such as oil stains and soup on clothes, dust blown on clothes by strong winds, dust adsorbed by static electricity on clothes, etc. We usually clean up this kind of external pollution in time to avoid affecting the appearance of clothing, and this kind of pollution is also easier to clean.

In comparison, internal pollution and pollution caused by microorganisms are often not easily taken seriously immediately. However, these two types of pollution often cause great damage to clothes and will also have certain effects on the human body. They are aspects that require special attention during daily cleaning and storage of clothes. Let's talk about them in detail below.

Don't ignore these pollutions

Internal pollution of clothing mainly includes sweat secreted by the human body and oil and dandruff from skin metabolism. In summer, the human body sweats more and the skin metabolism is more vigorous. A large amount of sweat, oil and dandruff is adsorbed on the surface of the fabric and the gaps between the fibers, and even penetrates into the hollow spaces of natural fibers with hollow structures (such as cotton fibers, linen fibers, etc.).

These mixtures contain a lot of protein, which will be oxidized in the air to produce yellow substances, especially in the neckline, armpits, back and other parts. The most obvious change is the yellowing of the fabric, which will also be accompanied by the fabric becoming hardened and causing problems such as reduced breathability. In order to avoid damage to clothing caused by internal pollution, it is recommended that underwear and summer clothes be washed and dried in time after being changed. This will not only make cleaning easier, but also reduce the possibility of these secretions causing microbial reproduction.

So what microorganisms may breed on clothing? Common ones include bacteria, fungi and mold. Common bacteria on the skin, such as Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis, may be transferred to clothing. Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, which exist in the environment, may also attach to clothing. When clothing is damp or unclean, these bacteria may multiply and cause odor or infection.

Fungi such as Candida albicans and dermatophytes can grow on clothing, especially in a humid and warm environment, and these fungi may cause skin diseases. If clothing is stored in a humid place for a long time, it is easy to be attacked by mold. Mold not only damages clothing, but may also cause respiratory allergies and other problems. The reproduction and growth of these microorganisms on clothing requires certain conditions and environments, and the suitable temperature is 5℃～50℃, and the relative humidity reaches above 65%, especially when the relative humidity reaches 80%, the growth is most obvious.

Therefore, when storing clothes, on the one hand, we need to keep the clothes clean and dry, and on the other hand, it is important to keep the storage environment dry, ventilated and clean. Some textile materials have strong hygroscopicity, such as cotton, viscose, lyocell, silk, etc., so we should pay more attention to keeping them ventilated and dry. We can open the wardrobe regularly for ventilation, or take out the clothes to air, especially in rainy and humid seasons.

This is the right way to store your seasonal clothes!

Here, we have compiled cleaning and storage suggestions for major clothing categories in life based on their materials (see Table 2) for your reference in real life.

Note: The "laying flat" here is relative to "hanging". Consumers can use rolled or upright storage methods according to their preferences and actual conditions.

It is now the time to change into autumn and winter clothes. For autumn and winter clothes that have been stored for several months, it is best to put them in a ventilated place to air them before wearing them, and check whether there is any mold on the surface of the clothes.

If there is mold or other conditions, the clothes are not suitable for direct wearing. You can thoroughly clean, disinfect and dry the clothes. If you can't handle it at home, you can send the clothes to a professional laundry for processing. If the clothes are cleaned and stored properly, they can be kept in good condition and extend the service life of the clothes to a certain extent.

References

[1] Jin Xuling. Contamination phenomenon of clothing during wearing[J]. Shanghai Textile Science and Technology, 2012, 40 (07): 27-29. DOI:10.16549/j.cnki.issn.1001-2044.2012.07.023.

[2] Peng Sijia. Research on washing stains on cotton clothing [D]. Xi'an Polytechnic University, 2017. [3] Hou Zhenwei, Xiong Ming, Zhang Songfa, et al. Diffusion and formation law and invasion dynamic characteristics of different liquid stains on cotton fabrics [J]. China Detergent Industry, 2021, (03): 28-35. DOI:10.16054/j.cnki.cci.2021.03.003.

Planning and production

Author: Song Lidan, Senior Engineer, China Textile Construction Planning Institute

Review丨Zhang Jie, Chief Engineer of China Textile Construction Planning Institute

Planning丨Ding Zong

Editor: Ding Zong

Proofread by Xu Lailinlin