If your clothes look dingy, discolored, and worn after just a few trips through the washer, it’s time to rethink how you do laundry. We talked to two experts about why sorting laundry is still important. Once you understand why you shouldn’t wash everything together, you can learn how to sort laundry to keep your clothes looking their best.
Prolong the Life of Your Clothes
P&G’s senior scientist for Tide, Jessica Zinna, Ph.D., sums up the issue nicely: “Separating your laundry by color, fabric type, and soil level prolongs the life of your laundry. While skipping sorting doesn’t mean your clothes will be ruined, if you have the time and resources to wash your laundry separately, you will notice your clothes look and feel newer for longer, especially when washing in cold. I would personally recommend separating your laundry as much as possible to get the best wear and appearance from your fabric items.”
Avoid Dye Transfer
Mary Gagliardi, aka “Dr. Laundry,” Clorox’s in-house scientist and cleaning expert, concurs: “Sorting laundry before machine-washing is a solid strategy to get good laundry results, and that’s why it’s essential. Washing dark and light items together is how you get visible dye transfer.
Prevent Dingy Appearance
When you combine only your dark items (blue jeans, black denim, black socks, dark blue shirts, etc.) in a single load, you’ll never know if a little color comes off in the wash and transfers to other items. Add in a light item, and it won’t hide any color it picks up and will look dingy, moving it one step closer to being downgraded (used for…a rag) or worse, discarded.” There you have it. The experts agree that, if you’re able to, you should be sorting your laundry. Here’s how to sort laundry to keep your clothing looking like new.
How to Sort Laundry
If you skipped the laundry sorting steps, you still have one last chance to prevent further wear and tear on fabrics. Zinna has some tips on the best way to dry laundry: “Generally, you want to follow the same sorting rules for the dry cycle as you do when washing laundry. This is because heavier items take longer to dry than lighter ones. By drying them together, the lighter items are over-dried, which stresses the fibers, and heavier items are often left damp, which can cause odors. Make sure you read the garment label for each item to determine if it can be machine-dried. Some items will need to be laid flat to dry or line-dried.”
