The fashion industry accounts for about 10% of our global carbon emissions and 20% of its wastewater, not to mention the millions of microplastics shed into the ocean from washing machines.

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Polyester clothing and other textiles are primarily responsible for the presence of about 35% of the microplastics in the ocean, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
To make clothes last longer — and shed fewer microplastics into the environment — simply wear them longer before washing. This Guardian article has good suggestions for how to delay having to wash your clothes.

9 Ways to Reduce the Impact of Laundry on the Climate & Microplastic Crises

Reprinted from  https://internationalwasteplatform.org/6-ways-to-reduce-the-impact-of-laundry-on-the-climate-plastic-crises/. See their web page for even more tips.

Here’s a Wirecutter article on eight tips for giving socks a longer life.

And if you want even more suggestions…
(Excerpted from The Secret to Longer-lasting Clothes Will Also Reduce Plastic Pollution, by Alisha McDarris)

Start by separating your clothing items—not by color, but by material. Wash rough or coarse clothes like jeans separately from softer items like polyester T-shirts and fuzzy fleece sweaters. This way, you reduce the friction caused by rougher materials crashing into more delicate ones for 40 minutes. Less friction means your clothes won’t wear out as fast and the fibers will be less prone to premature breakage.

Then, make sure you’re using cold water instead of hot. Heat weakens fibers and makes them more likely to break; cold water will help them last longer. Next, run a short cycle instead of a normal or long one, which will limit the opportunity for fiber breakdown. While you’re at it, reduce the speed of the spin cycle if you can—this will reduce friction even further. One study showed that together, these methods reduced microfiber shedding by 30 percent.

While we’re on the subject of washer settings, avoid the delicate cycle. That may run contrary to your beliefs, but it uses more water than other washing modes to prevent friction—and a higher ratio of water to fabric actually increases fiber shedding.

Finally, skip the dryer altogether. We can’t emphasize this enough: heat can shorten the life of materials and make them more likely to break in the next load of laundry. Fortunately, synthetic clothing dries fast, so hang it outside or over your shower rod instead—you might even save money by not running your dryer so frequently.

Once your clothes are washed and dried, don’t go back to the washer for a while. Many items don’t need to be washed after every use, so put those shorts or that shirt back in the dresser for another wear or two if it doesn’t smell like wet dog after one use. If there’s just one dirty spot, wash it out by hand instead of starting a load.

There are also several tools you can use to reduce microfiber shedding. Guppyfriend makes a laundry bag specifically designed to capture broken fibers and microplastic waste, but also to prevent fiber breakdown in the first place by protecting clothing. Just place your synthetics inside, zip it shut, toss it in the washer, and pick out any and dispose of any microplastic lint that gets caught in the corners of the bag. Even standard laundry bags help reduce friction, so those are an option as well.

A separate lint filter that attaches to your washing machine’s discharge hose is another effective and endlessly reusable option, shown to reduce microplastics by up to 80 percent. But don’t spring for those laundry balls that are supposedly meant to catch microfibers in the wash: the beneficial results are comparatively minimal.