I asked this question recently, unfortunately it did not get me closer to an actionable answer. Of course clothes get damaged and stuff is in the lint drawer, but it is a huge difference between losing the longevity by a 1% and 30%. Any actual research would be tremendously helpful.
https://vger.to/lemmy.ml/post/42648344
Personal study from memory: I have t-shirts that have always been washer/dryer treated. Depending on the quality of fabric most have fallen apart in a few to 10 yrs, though I do have like 4 that are 30 yrs old
I don’t have a study, but the tumbling and rubbing wears on clothes, compared to hanging to dry.
Some good shirts you will notice the collar seams and other edges start to wear.
In some cases like jeans and cotton cashual henley style shirts this gives a softening effect.
This isn’t scientific, but was recently listening to a podcast where they interviewed someone (18 minutes in) who does laundry for the Nets basketball team, and he said that the dryer basically bakes in any sweat or blood or stains which don’t get washed off before. I’m not sure how this affects longevity of the fabric, but from a usability standpoint, if your clothes are permanently stained, you probably will stop wearing them.
it is a huge difference between losing the longevity by a 1% and 30%.
Even if it’s only a couple percentage pts, it doesn’t seem hard to imagine how that could quickly add up over a few washes. You’re asking for research, but I’m curious what the actual situation is that you’re dealing with. Is it a case for example of having very little convenient area in which to hang clothes to dry?
Btw, there are no-heat spin dryers, hand-cranked wringers, and other alternative devices to help dry clothes as quickly as possible, without heat…
Currently we dry clothes in our wardrobe. We got rid of the dryer and decided to adapt our wardrobe to accommodate drying our clothes. So now we just hang them wet in our wardrobe. I am interested to know how much we extend the lifespan of our clothes by doing this instead
Your wardrobe, eh? Something like this, maybe?
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/nordkisa-open-wardrobe-with-sliding-door-bamboo-00439468/Anyway, GPT5.2 had some interesting things to say, with citations:
https://chatgpt.com/s/t_6984f12432ac81919662025a7302e0d6We bought some that are even more open in black metal, and some specialized hangers for different clothes. So that socks and boxers can hang without taking too much space
