LCA - Laundry vs. Textile Spray

During 2024–2025, two master’s theses at KTH – Royal Institute of Technology were carried out in collaboration with Pure Effect, exploring how new approaches to garment care can contribute to more resource-efficient everyday habits.

Both projects used Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as a method to analyse how different ways of washing and refreshing clothes affect resource use and environmental performance – taking a full life-cycle perspective from production to use and end of life.

Why

Garment care is a central yet often overlooked part of the textile sector’s environmental footprint. Washing and drying consume large amounts of energy, water and chemicals,  and are strongly influenced by our everyday behaviour.

In these studies, the researchers explored how biotechnological alternatives, such as Pure Effect’s Textile Mist – could be used to extend the time between washes, and how different usage patterns influence results in a life-cycle perspective.

Background

The studies were conducted at the Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering (SEED) and largely followed the framework defined in ISO 14040/44. Both drew partly on insights from a user test with Wargön Innovation, where more than 100 participants shared their experiences of how Textile Mist is used in daily life.

Faika Fakhar & Madiha Hameed (2025) studied the use of Textile Mist in caring for polyester shirts and compared different scenarios of traditional washing and spray-based refreshment.

Srusti Daruri (2025) focused on denim garments and analysed how consumer behaviour and different combinations of washing and spray use affect the environmental profile over a garment’s lifetime.

Both studies highlight that the use phase – how often and how we wash – has the greatest influence on the total environmental impact of a garment.

Results & insights

KTH, 2025 – Life Cycle Assessment of Jeans Washing and Textile Mist Cleaning – A Comparative Study on Consumer Behaviour and Environmental Impact

“In the LCA of jeans, reducing washing frequency and introducing Textile Mist led to noticeable decreases in energy demand, freshwater use and emissions. The study confirms that consumer behaviour — particularly how often garments are washed — has the highest influence on the total environmental impact. Extending garment lifetime and including microplastic emissions in future research could further strengthen these findings.” - Srusti Daruri, KTH

KTH, 2025 – Evaluating the Potential of Textile Mist to Reduce Environmental Impacts from Traditional Laundry of Polyester Shirts – A Life Cycle Assessment Approach

“Our LCA results show that when part of the machine washing is replaced with Textile Mist, several environmental impact categories — including climate change, toxicity and water use — are reduced. The findings demonstrate that the use phase dominates the total footprint, mainly due to energy and detergent consumption. This highlights the potential of behaviour-based solutions to complement technical efficiency in achieving lower overall impacts.” - Faika Fakhar & Madiha Hameed, KTH

Both studies also point out two key areas where data is currently missing: how washing contributes to microplastic emissions, and what the actual environmental benefit of extended garment lifetime is when washing frequency is reduced. The researchers emphasise that future studies should deepen these aspects to understand the full potential of changing garment-care habits.

For Pure Effect, the projects have shown how challenging it is to conduct a truly comprehensive LCA, as there is still a lack of data to capture the full picture of the impact that reduced washing actually has. It has also provided deeper knowledge of user behaviour and product life cycle, contributing to the ongoing development of products and communication around smarter garment care. It also reinforces the company’s long-term mission – to create measurable impact by helping reduce global laundry.
Significance

The collaboration with KTH strengthens Pure Effect’s work towards reducing unnecessary laundry and inspiring a new way of thinking about garment care – where research, design and behaviour meet.

These projects are examples of how academia and business can co-create new knowledge about sustainable consumption and circular solutions in everyday life.

Learn more

Evaluating the Potential of Textile Mist to Reduce Environmental Impacts from Traditional Laundry of Polyester Shirts – A Life Cycle Assessment Approach (Faika Fakhar & Madiha Hameed, KTH 2025)
Life Cycle Assessment of Jeans Washing and Textile Mist Cleaning – A Comparative Study on Consumer Behaviour and Environmental Impact (Srusti Daruri, KTH 2025).