Basic Care Tips for Uskees Clothing

• Try to wash clothing less which will help to prolong the life of your Uskees clothing
• Try airing your clothes and then see if they really need to be washed
• Sponge small spots or stains with water to try and remove them
• Don’t use a biological washing powder as these contain small amounts of bleaching agents which will cause colour fading of organic cotton over time
• Always wash your Uskees garments inside out
• Try a wash cycle with a low spin to prevent too much creasing
• If you are line drying your Uskees outside, dry the garment inside out to prevent any sun fading and avoid strong sunlight especially with black colours
• Only iron when necessary
• Get your storage right - storage is important to make sure your clothing looks its very best every time you put it on. Folding and piling your clothing encourages creases that can stay forever. Hang up shirts on a good quality hanger and use clip hangers to hang your pants in the wardrobe to avoid excess creasing

We use GOTS standard organic cotton for all of our Uskees products. When washing your clothing you need to carefully read the washing instructions on the Wash Care Label which can be found inside the garment.

Let's take a look at the Uskees Wash Care Label

You will notice that the front of the Wash Care Label says 'Be Kind to the Planet – wash cold’.

If you use cooler water there are many benefits to you and the planet, these include:

• Helps your clothes last longer - heat can cause damage to fabrics and fibres
• Reduces your carbon footprint - when you put a load of washing on, around 90% of the energy used by your washing machine is needed to heat the water. The simple act of washing clothes in cold water can make a huge difference to the reduce the amount of CO2 emissions that contribute to air pollution
• Saves money - when you can wash your clothes in cold water, you should save money because you’re not spending so much on electricity to heat up the water

If you look on the other side of the Wash Care Label you will see the following:

• 30°C Washing Machine temperature - it is recommended that you wash your Uskees clothing at 30°C or lower as low temperature washing not only saves energy, it also prolongs the life of your garment. As organic cotton is not treated with chemicals to reduce the shrinkage effects of heat it needs to be treated with more care and not subjected to high washing temperatures
• Machine wash inside out with similar colour fabrics as colour may transfer - because chemical colour fixatives are not used, please do not mix dark colours with light ones for the first few washes due to possible dye bleed
• Do not bleach - eco-friendly dyes are just as long lasting as the chemical dyes used on conventional products, however they will fade if powerful biological detergents (many of which contain bleaching agents) are used. Do not use chlorine bleach when washing Uskees’ products as it will fade the colour of the organic cotton and weaken the garment's fibre strength
• Tumble dry low - be careful how you dry organic cotton apparel.  As organic cotton is not treated with chemicals to reduce the shrinkage effects of heat it needs to be treated with more care and not subjected to high drying temperatures for a prolonged period of time. If possible, hang your garment to dry or line dry outside out of direct sunlight
• Warm iron - It’s important to understand that organic cotton isn’t treated with anti-wrinkle chemicals, so it can crease easily. Don’t leave it in the washing machine for a prolonged period after the wash cycle has finished as this will result in more creasing. To help reduce creasing, give the garment a shake when it comes out of the machine. We recommend that you iron your garment, if necessary, at a low temperature when it is still damp
• Do not Dry Clean - we do not recommend that you have your Uskees’ garments dry cleaned. The high heat will cause the material to shrink and the chemical solvents used in dry cleaning can weaken the fibre strength