This story is a part of one5c’s guide to sustainable fashion. Read more about fast fashion and the climate, sustainable laundry, upcycling, and repairing.
Ruined clothes often don’t get worn ever again; they get tossed in the bin and replaced with something new. But with so many resources pouring into clothing manufacturing—and so many items discarded or unsold every year—it’s critical that we keep our duds in good condition for as long as possible.
Poor storage is a common culprit when it comes to clothing becoming unwearable. But you don’t need some massive, Instagrammable closet to keep your wardrobe in good condition.
11 clothing storage dos and don’ts
Do: Control temperature and humidity
Environments that are overly hot and moist erode natural fibers and encourage mold. That means stuffy closets are terrible for your clothing. Checking your pieces frequently ensures items get time to breathe, says Eva Lopez, the owner of Cha Cha Linda, a vintage special occasion boutique in New York City.
If you live in a humid area, Lopez suggests using cedar bricks or planks in your closet or drawers to absorb moisture and help repel moths and other insects. If you don’t want to shell out for cedar, you can hoard the little silica gel packets that come with a lot of packages and clothes. While it’s not the most attractive method, throwing them into drawers and onto shelves is a cheap way to mitigate moisture.
Clothes like the same temperature and conditions that make people comfortable, whether in a closet or dresser. Between 50 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit is a good range, although Lopez notes that “extreme fluctuations are what cause the biggest issues.”
Do: Check pieces often
If you’re keeping clothes in an attic or offsite storage unit, it might be tempting to “store and ignore” until you actually need them. The problem is not realizing there’s an issue until it’s too late to save an item—or the entire inventory. So wherever you’re storing your clothes, make sure it’s somewhere convenient enough to give it a glance a few times a year.
Rifling through your pieces will also help prevent critters, like moths or even mice, from establishing residency. Animal damage isn’t as common of a concern for people who are wearing their clothes on a day to day basis, says Lopez.
“If you’re just not checking on your pieces, that’s really the way that things can get a little bit dicey, because even if you have created the most ideal environment inside your storage unit, you don’t know what your neighbor in their storage unit is storing in there,” she adds. “It’s best to keep diligent track of everything.”
Do: Empty pockets
Who hasn’t forgotten to clear their pockets after a long day out? But if you don’t take junk out of our pockets, purses, and coats before settling in for the night, you might forget about the little tidbits and treats that appeal to pests. “I had mistakenly left a dog treat in my coat pocket, and [a] mouse found that delicious treat, and it decided that pocket was about the coziest place to stay,” says Lopez. “It made a little nest in my pocket and chewed a hole so it could move around within the interior of the coat to find other places to cozy up.”
If you’re a secondhand shopper, you’ll also want to check items and give them a clean before tucking them into a closet or dresser. Natural fibers, in particular, are attractive to moths, Lopez says. It’s simple but surefire rule: If your clothes are being stored dirty, they’re going to degrade faster.
Don’t: Overuse plastic containers
Plastic storage containers can help lock out moisture, but they’re not a perfect solution. The material can leach chemicals over time, particularly or when exposed to elevated temperatures, which can in turn stain or weaken clothes when they interact with the fabric dyes.1 The bins can also trap moisture and gunk and prevent clothing fibers from breathing.
If you can guarantee the plastic box will be in consistent, moderate temperatures (that is, not cooking in the attic or freezing in the basement) and that you’ll be opening the box to let the fabrics breathe, then the risks associated with that storage method might not be that high.
Do: Tuck precious items in natural materials
Using untreated cardboard boxes and wrapping items in acid-free tissue paper skirts chemical leaching issues but leaves clothes more susceptible to moisture damage. So if you’re storing delicate or finicky items—like knit sweaters and ornate dresses—or sentimental pieces, consider the untreated cardboard and tissue paper route, and keep the box off the ground.
You could also opt for a cotton hanging garment bag, which would allow ventilation, but you’d need a lot of closet space and spare cash for that route.
Do: Lay flat or fold delicates and knits
Not everyone has the space for this, but Lopez points out that the most delicate pieces, like clothing with knits or heavy embellishments, do better when folded or laid flat. Hanging delicate or easily stretched fabrics on a hanger puts stress on the seams, resulting in unattractive puckers or pulls. “Also the weight, depending on the way the garment is woven, might cause the piece to stretch out over time, which is obviously very unideal,” she adds.
Don’t: Use wire hangers
If you do hang lighter-weight tops, like button-up shirts, be sure to align them properly on the hanger to avoid distorting their sleeves and seams, and use a higher-quality hanger. Opt for sturdy wooden ones if you can, and definitely avoid wire hangers, says to Jos. A. Bank, a men’s suiting and clothing supplier.
Do: Take off the dry cleaning bag
If you take items to the dry cleaner, don’t just store them in the plastic bag until the next wear. That plastic bag can “suffocate” the clothing fibers within, which encourages mold and can weaken fabric. Examine the item to make sure it was actually cleaned and not damaged, and remove any extra tags or pins the dry cleaner added.
“Dry cleaners will do some things that I really disagree with, like putting pins through the clothing to hold them onto their thin little wire hangers,” Lopez says. “Those pins rust over time and they can leave horrible rust stains in your sweaters or tops.”
Do: Avoid sunlight
If you search for “dream closets” on Pinterest, many of the jaw-dropping possibilities have large windows with lots of natural light. But that’s actually terrible for your clothing, Lopez says. The sun causes fabrics to bleach, and it’s unlikely the effects will be uniform since most items will only have a small part exposed.
If you’re blessed with a windowed closet, Lopez suggests adding curtains, shades, or any other window treatment that you can close when you’re not actively using your closet. If you don’t have a stunning walk-in closet with lots of natural light, just keep your closet doors and dresser drawers shut when not in use.
Don’t: Overthink critters
Unmitigated pests can definitely damage clothing, so small steps can go a long way to reducing risk. But unless your home has a major problem, much of your wardrobe is often untouched, or you’ve got a habit of pocketing cookies, you probably don’t have to worry about moths or other pests wreaking havoc.
If there are munchy moths in your house, Lopez recommends using pheromone traps, which are essentially glue traps for bugs. However, she warns that the traps are indiscriminate, meaning they also catch moths that don’t eat clothing. So don’t use them unless you have evidence of moths going to town on your favorite sweater.
Do: Show your basics some love, too
Your standard tops and everyday jeans probably don’t feel like they need to be stored with as much TLC as the fancier parts of your wardrobe. But Lopez says that “people should absolutely give great consideration” to all their items, even if they’re easy-to-replace staples like white T-shirts. “You can still absolutely extend the life of them,” she says. “I myself have fast fashion pieces in my wardrobe that I’ve had for 10, 15 years, and they’re pieces.”
Advice around temperature, humidity, gentle cleaning, and forgotten crumbs in pockets still apply to your everyday wear. If you’re low on shelves and drawers, try storing those items in another room until they’re needed again (like next winter for thick, space-hogging sweaters) or in an appropriate container under the bed. .
Storing shoes and handbags
The best practices for storing handbags and shoes are similar to clothing, but there are a few other things to keep in mind.
“With shoes, I find that moisture is really the biggest enemy over time,” regardless of if they’re made of natural leather or synthetic materials, says Lopez. She recommends stuffing newspaper into your shoes when you come home on a damp day, as well as regularly moisturizing leather shoes a few times a season. If you are worried about doing it yourself, a cobbler or leatherworking professional can easily do that for you. “Having them put regularly in front of your shoe repair person can help you see earlier, rather than later, when perhaps a shoe needs to be resoled,”
For higher-quality shoes, don’t kick them off by the door or store them where they could sit in the sun or collect dust. Instead, Lopez says to place nicer shoes in a dust bag to avoid sun damage and add another layer of protection. Shoes that need to maintain their structure—think knee-high boots—should be stored with something to hold that form, like newspaper, acid-free tissue paper, a cut-up pool noodle or even out-of-season malleable clothing items, like scarves, knit hats or bathing suits.
Similarly to shoes, handbags should be placed in dust bags with a moisture barrier or to avoid sun and moisture damage. They should also be stuffed to maintain their form. “I stuff my handbags with tissue paper and then store them in individual little dust bags,” Lopez explains. “Nicer bags tend to come with those, but that’s something that you could also acquire pretty easily.”
How to clean clothes to maximize longevity
Laundering clothes might be a bigger detriment to making them last than improper storage. Unless an item is truly dirty, you don’t need to give it the full washing machine treatment after every use, Lopez says. Simple spot-cleaning and deodorizing tricks can extend the amount of time between wash cycles—as can dialing in your laundry routine to stretch out the life of duds.
- Plastic Food Container Safety, Integrative Medicine, A Clinician’s Journal, May 2024 ↩︎