{"id":80227,"date":"2025-09-23T04:53:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T04:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/80227\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T04:53:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T04:53:14","slug":"dont-rely-on-price-to-indicate-how-hard-wearing-a-t-shirt-is-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/80227\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t rely on price to indicate how hard wearing a T-shirt is \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spending big on a T-shirt doesn\u2019t guarantee it\u2019s more hard-wearing. Splash your cash on a designer brand if you want, but know there is no correlation between price and durability, a new study has found. <\/p>\n

The longevity of clothing<\/a> is important. When an item is more durable, we can use it for longer. This also opens the possibility for it to be reused by someone after us too. <\/p>\n

The fashion industry is estimated to be responsible for 10 per cent of global carbon emissions<\/a>, according to European Parliament figures. Textiles (including clothing) have the fourth highest impact on climate change, after food, housing and transport. So clothing that lasts longer has the potential to reduce this harm. <\/p>\n

But back to the T-shirts. Some 47 T-shirts were put to the test in the study carried out by environmental NGO WRAP <\/a>and Leeds Institute of Textiles and Colour. They included 24 men\u2019s T-shirts and 23 T-shirts designed for women from UK clothing brands, including luxury brands. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Use your clothes for nine months more and reduce their environmental footprint by up to 30%Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The garments were really put through their paces. Testing included washing the garments using a standard mixed 30\u00b0 wash cycle, followed by a tumble dry 50 times. <\/p>\n

The T-shirts were then graded for pilling \u2013 this kind of \u2018bobbling\u2019 where small balls form on the surface is the number one reason people dispose of T-shirts, said the study. They were also tested for colour fading, shrinkage and any other impact on their general appearance. <\/p>\n

There was no correlation between price and durability of the T-shirt, the study found. Indeed, of the top 10 best performing T-shirts, six cost less than \u00a315 (\u20ac17.33). They outperformed many more expensive tees, including the most expensive costing a whopping \u00a3395 (\u20ac457). <\/p>\n

The most expensive T-shirt tested was outperformed by one a 30th of its price, researchers found. <\/p>\n

Price isn\u2019t a barrier to buying a durable T-shirt. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s good to know. Ireland is in love with clothes shopping, it seems. We have one of the highest rates of new textiles consumption in the EU, at 53kg per person every year, said figures from the Department of the Environment. <\/p>\n

An estimated 39 per cent of shoppers here report buying clothing weekly or monthly, said WRAP. Approximately 35kg of used textiles is disposed of per person each year here. This exceeds the EU average.<\/p>\n

Only 31 per cent of people in Ireland see a link between purchasing textiles and climate change, said the Department. <\/p>\n

If we are going to keep shopping like this, maybe we can at least think about the durability of our purchases.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/life-style\/people\/2025\/08\/04\/the-environmental-cost-of-that-debs-dress\/Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cMost shoppers use price as an indicator of how hard-wearing clothes are \u2013 \u2018the more I spend, the more I\u2019m bound to get out of my purchase\u2019\u201d says Mark Sumner, WRAP\u2019s programme lead on textiles. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut our study shows this is totally misleading. The most expensive T-shirt we tested cost \u00a3395 and ranked 28th out of 47, while a \u00a34 T-shirt was placed 15th. The most durable T-shirt cost \u00a328, but the one ranked second worst was \u00a329. So, if you\u2019re judging on price alone \u2013 buyer beware,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

Heavier weight cotton T-shirts tend to perform better for durability than lightweight ones, the study found. T-shirts with a blend of cotton and synthetic fibres perform well. And don\u2019t rely on price to indicate how hard wearing a T-shirt is, the study concluded. <\/p>\n

Each of us can make a contribution to climate action by thinking about what we really need, and whether we can rewear, share or repair.<\/p>\n

More durable clothing provides the opportunity for people to wear the clothes they love for longer, and pass them on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spending big on a T-shirt doesn\u2019t guarantee it\u2019s more hard-wearing. Splash your cash on a designer brand if…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,442,18,19,17,7765,1373,2212],"class_list":{"0":"post-80227","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-climate-change","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-making-a-difference","14":"tag-sustainability","15":"tag-weekendreview"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}