Our Sustainable Laundry Guide

Laundering our clothes is essentially a meditative practice, isn't it? Our clothes are our treasures and we schedule out a certain amount of time of our week to take care of them. Unfortunately, it can get a little overwhelming with several different fabrics and styles. It's hard to keep track of each item's washing instructions.

Don't fret -- we're here to help! We put together a little guide for you on how to sustainably launder your favorite Whimsy garments and the impact you'll have in doing so.

A quick Google search will lead you to your nearest non-toxic, eco-friendly dry cleaner. Luckily a lot of dry cleaning businesses have switched over to be more green in Los Angeles, but if you don't live near one there are other options for you.

Hand washing is our preferred method of washing when we can't get to the dry cleaners. Sure this takes time to do, but it's well worth the effort to preserve the life of your clothes.

Although we recommend hand washing for Whimsy + Row, we sometimes machine wash other garments. If you decide to machine wash always wash with cold water! About 90% of the energy used by your washing machine is to heat water. You can easily cut your carbon emission by washing your clothes in cold water while saving money on that energy bill. According to the EPA, you can wash 4 out of 5 loads of your laundry in cold water and you could cut out 864 pounds of CO2 emissions in a year. That’s equivalent to planting .37 acres of U.S. forest!

We cannot emphasize this enough -- air drying is the only way you should be drying your clothes! Air drying uses zero energy, prevents static cling, and is the best way to preserve your clothing. You can easily set up a dry line anywhere outside or near a window that gets enough air filtering through. The best part? Your clothes will have a fresh outdoor scent that could never be replicated inside a machine.

There are so many reasons why natural soap is crucial to your wellbeing. You are living and breathing these ingredients all day long. The best way to ensure you have total control over the ingredients is to DIY. We love Wellness Mama's recipe for homemade laundry soap. If you don't have the time we always love products from The Laundress for non-toxic laundry products.

We highly recommend that you ditch your dryer, but if you have materials that you need in the dryer, say no to dry sheets! Dry sheets are completely inessential to laundering garments. They are a waste of the environment as single-use products and they don't add much to the drying process. Use Natural Wool Balls or throw in an old sweater to decrease drying time and reduce wrinkles and static cling.