There's a moment in a garment's life that matters more than the purchase: the first wash. That's when it's decided — often without anyone noticing — how long that piece will actually stay in the wardrobe. We talk a lot about fibres, supply chains, certifications — far less about the everyday gesture that, for better or worse, weighs more than any label: how we wash, iron and let what we wear rest.
Washing is the first act of care, not the last
Most of a garment's wear doesn't come from the person wearing it, but from the person washing it: high temperatures, long cycles and aggressive spin speeds stress fibres far more than the body ever does. The good practices are simple and well known — wash at lower temperatures, choose shorter and gentler cycles, wash only when it's actually needed rather than out of habit — yet they're also the most neglected, because the damage isn't visible right away. It builds up wash after wash, and it's almost always invisible until the garment has already lost its shape, colour or hand.
Nine extra months, up to 20% less impact
How much is it actually worth, extending a garment's life? WRAP — the UK body that has studied textile durability since 2014 through its Clothing Longevity Protocol — has measured it: extending a garment's active life by nine extra months, nine months of real use rather than simply sitting in the wardrobe, can cut its carbon, water and waste footprint by up to 20%. That's not a number asking you to buy less in the abstract; it's asking you to keep using what you've already bought for longer — which depends, in large part, on how you treat it.
The EU is starting to ask for it by law
What used to be common sense is now becoming regulation too. The EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, adopted on 30 March 2022, sets design requirements so that, by 2030, garments placed on the European market are durable, repairable and recyclable by design. A first concrete step has already landed: since 20 July 2026 the Digital Product Passport registry has been operating, meant — among other things — to give buyers verifiable information on a garment's durability and repairability, not just its fabric composition. Care, in other words, is stopping being just advice on a label.
Care is design, not maintenance
Treating a garment well isn't an accessory gesture added after purchase: it's the continuation of the same work that brought it into being. A garment cut well, sewn well, made to last, responds to care far better than one made for a single season — and the best care alone won't save a garment that wasn't born to last.
It's the same logic we follow ourselves from the cutting stage onward: designing a garment to hold up over time, with the same care we put into the manufacturing arm of our own group, since 1979. The rest — washing it gently, ironing it when needed, letting it rest — is up to whoever wears it.