A fact that really shocked me when I first heard it: did you know that on average you use about 60 liters of water with every wash? Imagine for a moment 60 Coke bottles. The average two-person household does 3 washes a week. This results in about 10,000 liters of water consumed by washing each year. Bizarre a lot right?

Fashion designer Stella McCartney told The Observer in an interview that she never washes her suits or takes them to the dry cleaners, even adding that you should wash as little as possible. Quite right, because the impact of washing your clothes, as you can read above, is huge. But then, should we stop washing our clothes altogether?

It happens SO often that we throw our garments in the laundry basket at the end of the day, when in fact they are not dirty at all. Unfortunately, not really a sustainable habit....

Up to 700,000 microplastics are released with each wash, which is hugely harmful to the environment. So it is better to wash your clothes as little as possible. It is also not at all necessary to wash your clothes after wearing them once, with the exception of underwear, socks and clothes that have been swept a lot.

But then why do we all think this is necessary? The answer is simple: clever marketing by detergent manufacturers. Mac Bishop, the founder of a clothing brand whose clothes you hardly have to wash, experienced it while working for Unilever's marketing team: "The only way to grow a detergent brand is to make people think they have to wash a lot."

Besides water consumption, there is the energy consumption of a washing machine, and it is determined 80-90% by the temperature at which you wash. The higher that temperature, the more power you consume. And high power consumption - as we know - is not only bad for Mother Earth, but also for your wallet.

Safety is a priority when choosing a clothes steamer. Choose a clothes steamer manufactured by a company that specializes in clothes steamers. These devices may be a little pricier, but are guaranteed to be of high quality and come with proper safety certifications and automatic temperature control. Safe for you, and for your favorite textile items. In addition, ease of use is important. Check that the clothes steamer has a comfortable handle, a simple filling system and easy-to-use buttons without too much fuss.

For the finest steaming, always choose a clothes steamer with a wide and large steam head, and especially a wide stainless steel steam plate more than 10 inches wide. Many more luxurious garment steamers have a specially designed steam plate that gives the fabric extra elevator and allows fibers to swell more easily. This can greatly increase the ease of steaming.

If we adhere en masse to Stella McCartney's rule, "If you don't absolutely have to wash it, don't wash it," we will save the environment a whole lot. An alternative to making your clothes smell fresher is to hang them out outside for a few hours or steam them with a clothes steamer. The odors go out and if you make sure there are no stains in it, then you have no reason to wash it at all.

One of the fastest and most sustainable ways to freshen clothes is to use a clothes steamer. Using hot steam eliminates bacteria and removes odors from the fabric. This makes it ideal for refreshing clothes after a few wears, without being dirty enough to be washed.