10-02-2025
How often you should wash your clothes, according to the French government
France's agency for environment and energy (Agence de l'environnement et de la maîtrise de l'énergie, ADEME) has issued recommendations to help people decrease their energy consumption - including how often to wash your clothes.
The agency published a 16-page informative guide on 'How to clean in a more environmentally friendly way' with advice ranging from how often you should use bleach products to the frequency at which you should wash your clothes.
So how often should I wash my clothes?
According to ADEME, "Not all clothes are dirty after being worn once. Washing too often increases household electricity consumption, increases water pollution and wears out our clothes faster.
"That's why it's best to wait until you have enough laundry to wash before starting a cycle. Avoid half loads, which consume less water but just as much electricity."
The agency's most recent publication does not offer exact timelines for exactly when you should wash jeans, T-shirts and coats. Instead it separates clothes into the categories of wash 'after one use', 'after several uses', 'after several weeks'.
However, French daily Le Parisien published an infographic with older information from ADEME (here and here). This advice states you should wash
Underwear - after one use
Sport clothing - after one to three uses
Cotton shirts - after four to five uses
Dresses - after four to six uses
Bras - after seven uses
Pyjamas - after seven uses
Wool jumper - after 10-15 uses
Jeans - after 15-30 uses
Reactions
Not everyone has welcomed the recommendations, particularly regarding how often jeans should be washed.
One France Bleu
Another reader, Jeannine told the French news site: "For me, when you wear a pair of trousers for two or three days, that's the maximum. There's a smell, and you can feel that they're dirty when you touch them."
Others have pinpointed their frustration at ADEME specifically.
Georges, a 74-year-old in Doubs, France told Le Dauphine Libéré"I think there are big savings to be made by not wasting our money on this agency."
In response, the head of ADEME, Sylvain Waserman, told ici Alsace: "ADEME's money is primarily used to finance engineers who work on the decarbonisation of companies, energy and heat networks, and the decontamination of sites (...) these recommendations are not the core of ADEME's activity.
"I can reassure you. Everyone can do what they want, and when the garment is dirty, they wash it. There is no problem. The idea is to raise awareness and to bring another perspective to our daily actions," Waserman said.
The head of ADEME also pointed to other tips, like buying solid soap instead of shower gel in a plastic bottle, which by his estimate could save '10 Eiffel Towers worth of plastic'.
The ADEME website also has other helpful tools, including a simulator to get a better idea of how much CO2 is emitted from various daily activities. You can test it out here.
