If you have recently added some sustainable picks from SATVA to your everyday wardrobe but are clueless about how to maintain them sufficiently to increase their longevity, then it is essential to bear one key principle in mind: Don’t treat your organic clothes the the same way as your conventional clothing. You need to keep in mind that the organic cotton is made with a lot of care and attention to detail in each step of its production, from the organic cotton farms that are kept safe from harsh chemicals and pesticides, to the additional care by farmers to keep the crops healthy. Accordingly, your organic cotton clothes call for some special after-care.
AVOID USING HEAT TO DRY:
General machine washing does not affect your organic cottons in any way. However, exposing the threads to intensive heat dryers could sometimes lead to slight shrinkage. Organic cotton is devoid of chemicals that are used on conventional cottons to keep them from shrinking. That doesn’t mean that you need to buy a size bigger than the one you want. Even in extreme conditions, the shrinkage would affect the length, rather than the width. To play it safe, hang them to drip and dry or use air cycle drying and avoid heat.
USE A MILD DETERGENT:
As per convention standards, it isn’t compulsory for detergents to list all of their ingredients on the packaging. So you can only guess the amounts of harmful ingredients that are present in that fragrant detergent. While conventional clothes can still bear the abrasive chemicals, your organic cottons won’t. It is highly advisable to use mild detergents to ensure a longer life for your valuable organic clothes.
LESSER HEAT WHILE IRONING:
It is a common practice for irons to have cotton marked as their highest heating mode. But, when compared to conventional cotton, organic cotton uses milder chemicals which means that they have lesser resistance to heat. It would pay to start from lesser heat settings, and then adjust the temperature accordingly.
HOW TO LOCK COLOURS:
It is pretty normal for dark colours on organic cotton to bleed a couple of times when they are new, as they do not use chemical colour fixatives. You can use a quick hack and add a quarter cup of vinegar during the last rinse when washing your organic clothes for the first time. This goes a long way in helping the colour set and prevent it from bleeding, so that your clothes stay nice and bright for years to come.
WASH THE FABRIC BEFORE WEARING:
While you do not need to worry about any chemical residues left on your organic clothes since none were used in its production, it is still quite important to wash your clothes before you wear them to make it even softer and breathable for your skin, from the first use itself. The next time you are heading to the gym, skip the conventional capris, and look to Satva’s Vida Crop pants in Steel Heather for unparalleled comfort with GOTS-certified organic cotton.