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I'm down to just a few sweat shirts and over shirts from the 80s, but they are hanging in there. Both the colors and the fabric. When the subject comes up wit

• troyvit 9mo ago
  I don't have any clothes as old as yours though for sure, but line drying generally helps your clothes last longer. I'm so glad I live in Colorado. It's a warm winter, but it takes like 3 hours to dry stuff on the line (especially synthetics). Of course that means all my synthetic fibers are literally billowing into the air I guess. Still, we've been going without a dryer for about five years now and I've had no regrets.
  • dylan604 9mo ago
    I use my line in Texas, and 3 hours would see the clothes go from wet -> dry -> melted! And that's in the shade! Unfortunately, the line dried clothes are not soft, so I end up fluffing them in the drier using the air dry setting. Still cheaper than running the heating element, but hasn't eliminated the drier for me.
    • chao- 9mo ago
      Hah! I live in (I presume) a different part of Texas, and 3 hours on a line might not even see clothes go from "wet" to "damp" in the shade!
      • dylan604 9mo ago
        It does make it hard to dry clothes when the humidity level is >90% even if you have triple digit temps!
  • owlninja 9mo ago
    My strategy forever is to wash all my shirts, put them in the dryer on low for 5 minutes, then hang them all up in a doorway overnight. My clothes last much longer this way and never get wrinkled.
    • DANmode 9mo ago
      As long as that doorway isn’t made of wood, or have any cracks for air to enter the door or doorjam, that 90% relative humidity should be no problem!
      • dredmorbius 9mo ago
        Indoor air during wintertime tends to be low humidity in many places, with most residences running humidifiers to reach a comfortable (~35% RH) level. Clothes-drying will both benefit from the first and assist in the latter. (California is a notable exception.) In places which are humid during winter-time, cracking a few windows open will allow for equalisation with the outside, again keeping indoor humidity reasonable.
    • jarjoura 9mo ago
      Do you live in a liminal hall of doorways? LOL
    • awkward 9mo ago
      Folding drying racks come in several shapes and are very affordable.
  • jarjoura 9mo ago
    I had a european friend introduce me to indoor drying racks, and since, anything I plan to keep long term, I hang dry as well. I've found my clothes last longer and look nicer. Only thing I've found doesn't work well are towels.
    • mrspuratic 9mo ago
      I got a Foxydry (Italy) wall-mounted rack a few years back, best €100 I spent that year. Bottom rack folds up flush to the wall, top rack raises nearly to the ceiling. Towels dry fine spread over extra bar or three to allow for better air circulation.
  • lo_zamoyski 9mo ago
    Or, if you are using a dryer, keep the heat low to moderate.
• jazzyjackson 9mo ago
  There's still good fabrics out there you just have to pay for them. I've mostly replaced my wardrobe now with natural undyed cottons and wools from the likes of "unbleached apparel" and "industry of all nations". There is cotton grown in new mexico, socks spun in north carolina. "Filson" makes a few things in Seattle. Don't skip the stuff made in Peru or India neither.
  • strbean 9mo ago
    I really like the look of those unbleached + un-dyed shirts, but Unbleached Apparel and Industry of All Nations don't seem to have tall sizes :(
  • vyaa 9mo ago
    Do you have any brand recommendations?
    • bakies 9mo ago
      they gave two :) my own recommendation is spend some money, and look at tags. I shop at JCrew and higher end fashion companies, but still check material and care labels.
    • helterskelter 9mo ago
      $.02: - American Giant is pretty good for their pullover hoodies. They'll wear out at the cuffs first, but I've kept a single hoody in use for like five years with some repair stitching. - Standard Issue makes good waffle knit shirts. They'll last a few years depending on how often you wash them. - Duluth Trading makes some good cotton shirts and boxers. Quality has declined slightly, but they're the best plain cotton shirts and boxers I've found so far. - Big John makes denim jeans on old Levi looms. They even use cotton stitching. - Carhartt makes some okay dressy dungarees. Their work pants are worthless these days though (in my experience). They've been pivoting to lifestyle for a few years now. - Filson in my opinion has declined, but they're still pretty good. The socks are great, but they're overpriced. (Only posting this because I've struggled finding decent clothes myself and it's hard to tell what's good when you're shopping online)
• LUmBULtERA 9mo ago
  Yeah, I've started being a bit concerned about inhaling all the tiny plastic fibers every time I clean the filters and wondering what could be doing to my lunges.
• epolanski 9mo ago
  I have recently started refusing to buy all of this plastic filled clothes. If I see any % of it I don't buy it. Period. I spend much more upfront for clothes, but I gain a lot long term. Clothes don't look terrible after few washings and they tend to last forever.
  • adrianN 9mo ago
    I once bought 100% hemp pants because I heard that material is tougher than cotton, but my bicycle seat killed the pants in just a few weeks. Modern jeans last a few months to a year. I have yet to find pants that endure a bicycle commute.
    • dghlsakjg 9mo ago
      Look for pants with a "gusseted crotch". There are also bicycle specific commuting pants that have this feature.
    • lesostep 9mo ago
      Hemp fibers are tougher then cotton Ironically, that's why hemp is comonnly used to make thinner more airy and less heavy fabrics. So the final products aren't always more resistant to wear and tear just because fibers are
    • MrBeanDean 9mo ago
      Had my Nudie jeans for about 5 year wearing them probably 4 days a week averaged over the whole time. Indeed the frequent cycling killed them, but it took quite a while. Now I'm figuring out when to bring them to their free repair service to see if I can get a prolonged live for them. Disclaimer: cycled probably only 15 minutes a day with them averaged over the whole time, but really hard to say, so your millage might vary
  • jjice 9mo ago
    Why? Polyester (as one plastic based fiber) gets a lot of flack because low quality clothes tend to use it, but polyester can be a fantastic fabric if done right. Durable, fast drying, and can be completely recycled. For example, Patagonia tends to have high quality polyesters and has since the 70s. My experience with their fleece is that I can abuse it and it'll come out unaffected on the other end. Pilling now and then that I take down with a pill remover. Nylon is also a fantastic material, when used appropriately, like for the shell of a jacket. And don't get me wrong, cotton, wool, and hemp are all fantastic as well. Most of my clothing is those fabrics and they do a damn fine job at what they're good at.
• nezi 9mo ago
  I hold my breath when I clean the lint trap, replace it and start the drier, then leave the laundry room and take a breath. I’m still probably inhaling some fibers but it makes me feel like I’m doing something.
  • dragonwriter 9mo ago
    Probably be easier to just where an N95 (or even a cloth mask, these aren't really small particles) when changing the lint trap, to the extent this is a concern.
  • ynac 9mo ago
    That was me - until today. Now I've got a newish Dyson that was annoying to use on floors stashed under the water heater with a sneaky hose extension that flips up to deal with lint without even removing the filter all the way. It has a good filter on it and the container should hold months of lint. Next question...how do I empty the Dyson container. Ha!
  • getlawgdon 9mo ago
    So I'm not the only one.
• thrawa8387336 9mo ago
  I had the exhaust vent disconnect. Still think of the amount of microplastics I must have inhaled then
• cyberax 9mo ago
  > Is anyone else freaked out about cleaning their dryer's lint filter given all the new fabric materials? I used to be. So I spent quite a lot of time researching the issue. Not just google searches, but actually speaking with biologists. I think that the current microplastic scare is overblown. The "credit card worth of plastic in brain" articles are just ridiculous. Biologically, the body has defenses against microscopic contaminants in blood. There are special immune cells that "eat" insoluble particles and then get excreted (typically in bile). It looks like I'm not alone in my bafflement: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/01/scary-research-findings-microplastics-human-health-flawed/ https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/01/scary-research-... or https://www.vox.com/climate/475004/microplastics-research-false-positives-guardian-science https://www.vox.com/climate/475004/microplastics-research-fa...
  • dekhn 9mo ago
    Nearly every environment-adjacent field has concern nannies who make unrealistic risk assessments which then get regurgitated into guilt-inspiring newspaper articles. This is especially common when there is no way to determine for certain what the actual risk is; some folks fall on the "allow zero risk" side.
    • cyberax 9mo ago
      Some concern is warranted. I think that plasticizer or dyes leaching from plastics is a very real problem, so I try to avoid food stored in plastic containers (this includes tin cans, they are often lined with plastic). This is a solvable problem, though. Polyethylene doesn't need plasticizers.
      • IAmBroom 9mo ago
        > I think that plasticizer or dyes leaching from plastics is a very real problem Maybe. You're apparently guessing. It might be a trivial concern. The post above you is pointing out that, lacking real data, we don't know.
    • mmooss 9mo ago
• themafia 9mo ago
  Do not dry your cotton shirts in the dryer. It's as easy as that. You hang them up and let them air dry. They'll last forever.
  • teruakohatu 9mo ago
    In New Zealand, culturally people generally use dryers only when it is too wet to hang them outside. Dryers are seen as wasteful and destructive. T-shirts last longer but they do not last forever. Quality has gone down substantially.
    • cycomanic 9mo ago
      Yes completely agree. I always hang up my washing (also in NZ, don't have a dryer) and was recently sorting through my tshirts as we are moving country. I have one t-shirt that is nearly 20 years old and still holds its shape (though the color and print has faded) on the other hand i threw away a bunch of other t shirts which were just over a year old because they developed holes and particularly the collar is completely broken. Funnily their color and print is mostly fine. I don't think brand is a good predictor either, e.g. the old t shirt is from threadless IIRC while I had many other threadless tshirts which didn't last near as long.
  • stickfigure 9mo ago
    Cotton shirts aren't valuable enough to treat this gingerly. I hang dry my merino, but it's easier to just buy new cotton shirts every five years or so. That's a good run for clothing.
  • Vrondi 9mo ago
    But I have 90s t-shirts that are just now dying after all these years of being dried only in an electric dryer, and other t-shirts just a few years old that are disintegrating. There's definitely been a quality change in the average shirt.
    • themafia 9mo ago
      Inflation halved the value of money since the 90s. If you haven't been paying double for your shirts then the quality hasn't changed but your price expectations subtly did. We see this everywhere. Manufacturers moving to more disposable products to keep the average prices within consumer expectations. Shirts and Cars certainly ain't "what they used to be."
• ravenstine 9mo ago
  I can confirm that you really don't want to breathe in any of that crap. A year and a half ago I developed symptoms of what was some form of bronchitis. Lots of mucus, constantly coughing, etc. I was pretty freaking sick. I tend to wait some things like this out, but it wasn't going away so I went to a doctor and got some medications including albuterol and some kind of steroid (prednisone, I think). It got a little more manageable, but didn't seem to be getting any better. One day, I realized how much of a dumbass I was the whole time. The apartment I was living in had a laundry room, but it was tiny and I got tired of both hauling laundry up and down multiple flights of stairs and having to fight for time with the few machines that were there. I bought a small washer and dryer pair from Black & Decker which were designed for apartment living. Kinda off topic, but there were no hookups in my unit, so I had to jerryrig a water connection using some collapsible garden hoses that connected to my shower and its drain. Was kinda hilarious but worked great. I made the mistake of thinking that I could just allow the dryer to blow through two sets of lint traps and have a fan blow air out of the window to manage moisture and remaining lint making it through. What I didn't realize was how inadequate the traps were. Because I worked from home, I spent a lot of time in that bedroom, including when the dryer was running. I was breathing in all sorts of stuff without knowing it. Once I stopped hanging out in that room while the dryer was running, bought an air purifier, and made sure to frequently clean my apartment of dust, my symptoms rapidly started to go away. If I had to do all of that again, and I couldn't just have the dryer blow directly out the window, I would find some way to have it do a second pass through a HEPA filter, perhaps after drying the air with something like calcium chloride. I shudder to think of all the microplastic fibers that remain somewhere in my body.
  • d3ad1ysp0rk 9mo ago
    Also definitely look into ventless dryers - while not as quick as a vented one, the heat pump versions have come a long way from the classic condenser styles of the past.
    • SamBam 9mo ago
      Our ventless dryer is great. Maybe it takes 50% longer, but we're not running multiple loads a day so who cares? Smaller to medium sized electric ventless dryers are the most efficient dryers out there. (Of course we also just use clothes racks to dry stuff.)
• kazinator 9mo ago
  My following comment is not about clothes, but not long ago I washed some curtains that were hanging in a window for some fifteen years. The amount of lint that came out in the dryer was incredible. I'm talking inch-thick wad on the filter screen, growing another inch with continued drying, after being removed. It was probably due to years of UV breakdown of the fibers from daylight.
  • IAmBroom 9mo ago
    Or accumulation of (invisible) hair and clothing fibers by the coarse curtain fabric over the years.
    • kazinator 9mo ago
      The lint had a very homogeneous consistency: it was almost snow white with few inclusions deviating from that, almost resembling polyester pillow stuffing in some regards, except for having a different structure (much shorter fiber strands, probably).
• IAmBroom 9mo ago
  You are actually seeing something the linked article doesn't even mention: fiber length. Not all cotton is created equally. "Egyptian cotton" was long prized because of the long fiber lengths. Cotton fibers are very smooth and slick, and only stay together in thread because of friction along their length as they lay with neighbor fibers (often twisted, where friction becomes exponential instead of linear). Short-fiber cotton is cheaper and easier to source; ergo, cheaper clothing tends to be made of it. Short fibers are also much more likely to slip within the thread under heat, lubrication, and motion (washing and drying). Obviously, they are also more likely to completely fall out of the thread, creating lint. This is really only true for cotton and very similar fibers. Linen fibers are generally all multiple inches long, so there's less of a quality issue (they are made from rotting away everything but the longitudinal support fibers of the plant stalks). Wool varies greatly in surface texture, especially after modern chemical processing, and fiber length isn't an issue because the fibers are also inch-long or better. It shrinks, however, because its friction is SO HIGH that it won't give up (stretch back) once it gets bound up. Silk fibers super slick, but are several yards/meters long; a single cocoon is made from a single thread. They are much slicker than cotton (and therefore harder to hand-spin), but by the time they are made into thread they have plenty of surface friction maintaining their position in the thread. Artificial fibers are as long as the production shift lasts, so effectively infinite.
  • coryrc 9mo ago
    Unfortunately about linen, they often "cottonize" it to use on cotton machines. They just chop that long fiber into short ones, negating much of the benefit. I haven't figured out how to tell the difference.
• sitharus 9mo ago
  I just try to buy natural or the semi-synthetic cellulose fabrics, there's quite a variety. Natural fabrics are cotton, silk, wool and linen of course, but the semi-synthetic fabrics like the rayons (viscose, modal, "bamboo", Tencel, Lyocell, Bemberg, and some sorts of artificial silk) are wood cellulose chemically rearranged so they're just cellulose when they reach you. The fabric referred to as Acetate is cellulose acetate, so not pure cellulose like cotton and rayon but is just as biodegradable and contains no petroleum plastics. Of course the production process for viscose rayons (not Tencel/Lyocell/Modal - those use a different process) isn't great. It uses carbon disulfide which is a neurotoxin. However it's not a persistent pollutant. Modern factories in the west try to capture and recycle as much carbon disulfide as possible (it's released from the rayon during processing and can be fed back in to the process) but as a lot of factories are in countries with poor controls on this it's hard to tell how many are doing this.
  • itsgrimetime 9mo ago
    ive recently found some rayon shirts I really like, but how do you wash them without destroying them? everything I've read online says dry cleaning is the only way
    • sitharus 9mo ago
      For viscose most rayon a gentle cycle in a front loading washing machine is generally fine, though the more silk-like variants are less resilient. You might want to put it in a garment washing bag to make sure it doesn't get stretched while wet. If you don't have that it's dry-clean only. Varieties like modal and Lyocell are machine washable.
• dec0dedab0de 9mo ago
  I hadn’t considered that, but I have also paid to get my laundry done for the last 15+ years, it is the greatest luxury.
• SapporoChris 9mo ago
  Hang dry clothing to avoid the drying machine issues all together and it is much gentler on the clothing.
• mc32 9mo ago
  Velva sheen makes some decent sweats and hoodies.
• strbean 9mo ago
  I wonder what impact those plastic bits used to attach tags to clothing have on durability. Woven/knit products kind of have a countdown that starts when threads break, and those tags tend to mean your clothing already has broken threads right from the store.
  • Gigachad 9mo ago
    Most tshirts I've seen have a tiny fabric loop on the collar where the tag can be attached without puncturing the fabric.