How to Build Your Best Laundry Kit

Everything you need to treat your clothes the way they deserve to be treated

Your clothes are so, so special.

Yes, even your six year old H&M maxi skirt. Yes, even your grease-stained college volleyball t-shirt. Every single garment requires many hands and hours and sacrifices to end up in your dresser drawer, regardless of how ugly or unremarkable. Sure, laundry is a chore, but it’s also an immense privilege. How lucky we are to have so many different things to wear and wash! Clothing care is an essential part of being genuinely fashionable.

So, what exactly do you need to treat your clothing in the best way possible? I talk about laundry and vintage care quite often, so I’m asked a lot of questions! This letter is a round up of all of my favorite laundry products - every single item included here is something I personally own and use on both my personal items and the inventory I restore for my vintage clothing brand. I’ve tried and tested a LOT of methods, tricks, and products over the years, and these are the helpful tools that have come out on top.

Your personal kit should take time to build. This letter is not a green light to go running out and buy every single thing I mention here. Wait until the need arises, and slowly add the necessary products and tools to your arsenal as you actually come up on an opportunity to use them. The products you’ll actually use will vary based on the kinds of clothing you wear, and what you do in those clothes.

A note: I know most of us are very busy and very broke, but small changes can make a big difference when enough of us participate! Whenever it’s possible, try making purchases from small, local, independently owned businesses.

It’s easy to order everything from [Insert Evil Corporation Here], but pretty much every single one of these products are also available to buy from a small business. Yes, Dawn dish soap is made by a corporation. However, buying that same bottle of Dawn from a mom and pop corner store means that an average of 67 cents of each dollar spent will stay in your local community. Spending an occasional extra few bucks and taking 10 minutes to detour to a local store is what keeps these essential community pillars in business.

Hot tip: some chains, like Ace Hardware, are independently owned!

The Necessities

If there’s anything you should go out and buy now, it’s these necessities. I consider these absolute essentials for anyone, as they’re useful for a huge variety of clothing types and laundry mishaps.

• Dawn dish soap - it’s affordable, it’s accessible, and it gets the job done. Dawn is the best product for any kind of oil-based stain, including saucy spots and greasy beauty products. Other liquid dish soaps can work in a pinch, but the classic blue Dawn is really the best of the bunch.

  

  Dawn has been around since 1929 for good reason!

• Oxiclean - my undying, unrequited love for Oxi knows no bounds. Seriously, I wrote an entire piece about it. The best for brightening whites, de-funkifying the stinkiest vintage, and removing extremely stubborn stains. There is a right way to use Oxi, so make sure you’re following instructions!

  

  The one, the only, my OxiQueen…. HER

• Wool dryer balls - if you don’t own or use a machine dryer (more likely if you’re living outside of the US) disregard this one. The best option is to skip the dryer altogether, but I know it’s a convenience that Americans are attached to (myself included!) Your goal with the dryer should be to use it as minimally as possible, which means shorter cycles. Wool dryer balls help keep your clothing separated, improve air circulation, and absorb excess moisture, all of which means your clothing spends less time being tossed around and blasted with heat.