Keep Athleisure Wear Pristine and Pill-free's featured image

Athleisure is an ongoing trend in the fashion industry, defined by Wikipedia as clothing designed for workouts and athletic activities that is worn in other settings, such as the workplace, school, or casual and social occasions. So, it’s basically like wearing your Lululemon clothing to the gym, then to the grocery store and finally deciding to wear them for the rest of the day because they’re just so darn comfy. While some industry observers expected this trend to slow down, or to even stop in 2016, two years later Canadian consumers appear reluctant to give it up.

Keep your workout wear fresh and pill-free with a few cleaning tips from the experts:

  1. If you can’t put your damp and sweaty clothes in the wash right away, hang them up to air dry. If left rolled in a ball, the garments become a perfect breeding ground for mould and bacteria.
  2. Turn garments inside out before washing anything! Sweat and dirt is on the inside so turning it inside out will make it more exposed and cleaning more effective. Not to mention protect the decorative stuff on the outside.
  3. Remember to AVOID fabric softeners when washing athletic wear. Fabric softeners repel water and can sometimes actually interfere with tech coatings and impair their ability to work.
  4. Try using a liquid bio detergent. The enzymes in liquid bio detergents serve as a booster technology, designed to break down protein, starches, and fat that are often found in food stains, sweat and other common stains. It’s also proven to keep clothes softer. And, no one wants stiff yoga pants!

Pilling a problem? Over time, tech fabrics can become rough and worn developing small balls of fibres, commonly referred to as pills. This occurs during the wash cycle as the fabric gets caught on clothing fixtures such as zippers, hooks, Velcro, or snaps. Again, using a liquid bio detergent or gentle cycle detergent may be the answer. Why? Without damaging the fabric, the enzymes break down these weak fibres on which the pills hang, cleaning up the garment along the way.

 

(Photo by Jacob Postuma)