- Use your nose

Do clothes or shoes smell ”chemical”? It might be antimolds or solvents. The smell of rubber duck is probably the smell of plastizising phtalates. Strange smells indicate strange ingredients.

 

- Wash before use

New textiles may contain large amounts of harmful chemicals that you don’t want on your skin or in your lungs. Wash new clothes, sheets, pillows, soft toys... everything! Choose an ecolabelled and unscented detergent.

 

- Extend the life span

Once you have washed your new textiles to get rid of as much chemicals as possible, do the opposite: ventilate instead of washing, avoid tumbling.

 

- Boycott antibacterial

Sportswear marketed as not smelling or anti-sweat contain biocides: toxic not only to bacteria but usually also to you too as well as to aquatic organisms.

 

- Enjoy fluorine free leisure

Functional clothes are often processed with highly fluorinated substances (PFAS) repelling water and dirt. They are harmful to nature and degrade extremely slowly. Ask for fluorine free impregnating agents – they exist.

 

- Reuse

Second hand, swopping and creative mendings as well as passing childrens outgrown clothes on to younger ones decrease the consumption and thereby the production and the use of chemicals. Reused garments, washed many times, are also likely to be a healthy choice for you. Exception: avoid old rainwear and other garments of vinyl (PVC).

 

- Shop with consciousness

Organic cotton and clothes with some kind of ecolabelling is more strictly controlled than legislation requires: gentler to people, gentler to nature. Avoid synthetic fibers leaking micro plastics while washing.

 

- Prioritize phtalatefree

Sportswear, T-shirts and childrens clothing with plastic prints often contain endocrine disruptive plastizisers. Ask for PVC-free options.

 

- Choose chemically clever shoes

Plastic shoes and near-leather (plastic) contain plastizisers and other chemicals. Shoes imported from Asia can be processed with strongly allergenic anti-mould-agents. Real leather is tanned with crome, a very toxic and non-degradable heavy metal. Ask for vegetably tanned leather and ecolabelled shoes, buy high quality shoes you love and want to use for a long time – and choose a model that can be mended by a shoemaker.

 

- Cultivate your personal style

Buy few but carefully chosen garments of high quality that will serve you for a long time. Build a personal wardrobe where the pieces fit together. Consuming less means decreasing the use of chemicals in the world.