I know many of us frown on re-wearing clothes without washing them. But there are situations when you have to do it such as when you are camping, traveling light or even at home during a power blackout when you can’t do laundry. 

But even for normal situations, re-wearing clothes can help reduce your carbon footprint. Laundry has a pretty huge environmental impact. 

Here are some tips on how to re-wear clothes without worrying about unpleasant odors or hygiene issues. 

1. Know What You Can Re-wear

The first step is knowing what to re-wear. You can safely re-wear most kinds of clothing except underwear and socks. These tend to accumulate more sweat, dead skin cells and bacteria. They smell more when they are dirty and they can be unhygienic to wear again without washing.

That said, there are underwear and socks designed to be odor-resistant like the Hercleon Kribi underwear and HercSocks. They are made with self-cleaning fabrics that fight off bacteria that can cause odors and infections. 

Certain types of clothes are easier to rewear, and in fact you should always try to wear them multiple times before laundering them as long as they don't have any visible dirt, stains or strong odor. 

These include jeans, coats, jackets, sweaters and pajamas. Not only do you save yourself the hassle of laundry, it also lengthens the lifespan of these items. 

Darker clothes are great for re-wearing since they don't show dirt easily. Add plenty of these to your closet if you want to reduce how much laundry you do. 

The material of the clothes matters as well when it comes to ease of re-wearing. Natural fabrics like wool, cotton, silk and linen are naturally odor-resistant, so they stay fresher after multiple wears. Synthetic fabrics like nylon and polyester, on the other hand, tend to stink up easily and hold onto that smell.  

2. Store Worn-but-Not-Dirty Clothes Properly 

Storage is where a lot of people mess up when it comes to re-wearing clothes. If you take off clothes and pile them on a chair, throw them in the closet or, worse, put them in the laundry basket together with the dirty clothes, they will likely be in no state to be worn again. 

Storing worn-but-not-dirty clothes properly is essential in keeping them clean and fresh. We recommend folding or hanging them somewhere airy to ensure they don't get musty. And whatever you do, don't keep them close to the dirty items that are going into the washer. 

3. Refresh Worn Clothes 

Sometimes, worn clothes that you plan to wear again can have a whiff of an odor. That doesn't mean you have to wash them. There are plenty of ways to refresh worn clothes without laundering them. Here are some ideas. 

• Hang them up somewhere airy. This dries any moisture on the clothes and reduces odors. 
• Even better, hang them outside in the sun. The sun’s UV rays kill odor-causing bacteria, which deodorizes the clothes. 
• Spritz the clothes with a mixture of vinegar and water and let them dry. Vinegar is an excellent and safe deodorizer. A fabric freshener spray also works, but make sure you find one that deodorizes instead of just masking the odor. 
• If you don't have vinegar, sprinkle baking soda on the clothes and leave them to deodorize for several hours. Shake or brush out the baking soda.  

4. Use a Clothes Brush 

The main use of a clothes brush is to remove link and pet hair from clothes. But it’s also good at removing dust and dirt that’s embedded in the clothes fibers. 

Using a clothes brush on worn clothes can freshen, smoothen and brighten them, making them ready to wear again.