If you’re a lover of fitness AND a lover of leggings, you are probably oh so familiar with the washing cycle.

Words by Karen Laing

Do you throw it all in together?

Do you separate or wash immediately after each wear?

And how do you care for the environment and get rid of nasty niffs without ruining the planet with your laundry?

1. Only wash as often as necessary. If you want to keep colours vibrant and fit for purpose, only wash those leggings when they absolutely need it. If you’ve been lounging on the couch or wearing between workouts, then pop them back in the drawer for your next sweaty workout.

2. DO wash your fitness wear as often as it gets sweaty. Leggings in particular are worn close to your skin, so bacteria and smells can quickly build up. Do wash sweaty kit.

3. Check the label in your clothes. Be honest. Do you ever think you know best? All garments come with a care label specific to the fabric, direct from the manufacturer. It’s not a cosmetic item! Check it and follow it.

4. 30 is sufficient. Don’t be tempted to chuck all your washing in on a standard wash. Heat is no friend of performance fabrics and most will wash well at 30. You’ll be kinder to the environment at lower temperatures too.

5. Skip the fabric softener. Did you know that fabric softener affects the performance ability of some fabrics? Bordoni Sport fabrics are chosen for their specific sweat wicking and cooling properties. Fabric softener can seriously affect your fitness wear’s ability to do its job.

6. Air dry. If you can line dry your clothes, it’s as good as fabric softener. Line drying helps get rid of sweaty odours as well as being kinder to the environment than those energy sapping tumble dryers (NEVER tumble dry your fitness kit). Plus you’ll expend more energy pegging out those clothes than you would shoving them in a machine.

7. Flat dry. If possible, lay your clothes flat - this is especially important if you have full length leggings or heavy fabrics since hanging them may cause them to stretch.

8. Air dirty clothes immediately. One of the worst things you can do for your sports kit is leave it damp, in a bag. It can collect mould and mildew. Even if you can’t wash your sweaty clothes immediately, take them out of the bag and hang them to dry.

9. Freeze smelly clothes. If you have got some items which are holding onto smells even after a wash try freezing them before you wash them. Freezing clothes will kill any harmful bacteria which is what leads to lingering odours.

10. Use a natural freshener. Popping a handful of bicarbonate of soda in with your clothes (into the drum, not the dispenser) is a natural deodoriser.