Ecover Turns Humble Laundry Chairs into Stylish Sustainable Furniture

Overwashing our clothes is bad for the planet. Anything that helps us wash less is a good thing. So Uncommon Creative Studio and Ecover created ‘The Rewear Chair’. Celebrating the humble laundry chair we all have, and turning it into the chair we all want.

The bespoke chair will be showcased at Dutch Design Week (DDW) taking place in Eindhoven from 19–27th October 2024. A piece of beautiful, sustainable design that can air up to a week’s worth of clothes. Collapsible and adaptable. Made from 100% sustainable materials: wind-felled cedar, complemented with reclaimed ash fixtures, natural beeswax to smooth the joints. With a natural felt insert infused with cedar oil to deodorise the clothes.

Celebrating the laundry chair: a sustainable revolution

When you think about sustainability, you think about sacrifice for the planet. But the eco choice doesn’t have to be the difficult choice. Good design can turn innovation into beauty. With the right design, making the right choice is easy. And sometimes, it’s not even about changing our behaviour. It’s about embracing something we already do, and realising the power it has.

We’re washing our clothes far more than we need to - which is bad for the planet, and our clothes. So anything that helps us wash less must be a good thing. Even the messy habits we look down on. Like the laundry chair. The one we all have in our rooms - where we throw the clothes that aren’t 100% clean, but not dirty enough for the wash. That behaviour - and the washes it skips - saves water, energy and actually makes our clothes last longer.

‘The Rewear Chair’ is a celebration and reappraisal of the laundry chair - turning an untidy habit into a joyful, interactive and multi sensory experience. It encourages us to wash less, and think more consciously about our laundry habits.

The making of ‘The Rewear Chair’

Handcrafted from sustainable materials, ‘The Rewear Chair’ embodies both beauty and purpose. It is made from wind felled cedarwood, chosen for its natural deodorising qualities, ensuring that clothes stay fresh without constant washing. The chair’s arms can be extended to hang up to a week’s worth of clothes, allowing garments to air out in an organised and stylish manner.

‘The Rewear Chair’s’ collapsible and adaptable design makes it a versatile addition to any room. Its fixtures are made from reclaimed ash, and natural beeswax is used to smooth the joints, as well as a natural felt insert infused with cedar oil to deodorise the clothes, highlighting the chair’s environmentally friendly construction and thoughtful craftsmanship. The chair is handmade in Dorset, ensuring quality and sustainability from start to finish.

“We’re taking a common behaviour and turning it into something beautiful and intentional,” said Nils Leonard from Uncommon Creative Studio. “The eco-friendly choice can be the most beautiful choice too, and The Rewear Chair proves that good design can help us rethink our habits for the better. This is design at its best, solving problems but also asking questions.”

This innovation reimagines that 'messy corner' of the room and turns it into a statement of sustainability. The chair acts as a reminder that washing our clothes more than needed not only shortens their lifespan but also wastes valuable resources. By allowing clothes to air out and refresh between wears, The Rewear Chair helps us adopt sustainable laundry habits. The design film is narrated by James Piper and Robbie Stanifort of the acclaimed ‘Talking Rubbish’ podcast - capturing their first impressions of the chair.

A broader sustainability commitment

The launch of ‘The Rewear Chair’ is part of a larger sustainability campaign by Ecover, who are working together to reduce the environmental footprint of everyday activities like laundry. The campaign is underpinned by findings from Ecover’s inaugural ‘Home ECOnomics Report’ developed in partnership with Falmouth University by PR agency Manifest. Commissioned to explore the UK’s laundry habits, the report reveals how Brits wash clothes, their everyday practices and the cultural and advertising influences shaping those routines - many of which have significant environmental impacts, including energy and water consumption, toxic chemical runoff from detergents, and microplastic shedding from washing machines.

The eco-cleaning pioneer’s report reveals how deeply cultural and social expectations have shaped Britain’s laundry habits. Decades of misunderstanding fuelled by misguided household traditions and beliefs have led nearly one in five adults (18%) to mistakenly believe that washing less often doesn’t impact the planet, while one in ten (11%) feel pressured by societal standards to do laundry more frequently, despite being aware of their carbon footprint.

The report found that nearly a quarter (24%) of adults lack confidence in following clothing care instructions and over a third (34%) do not follow them, leading to the unintended impacts of over- washing such as water waste and contributing to landfill and fast fashion consumption.

Positively, in the last decade, one in five (21%) Brits have adopted greener laundry habits such as increasing the number of wears between washes, with a further six in ten stating they will be willing to change their laundry habits to reduce their carbon footprint.

Backed by the belief that sometimes the best wash for the planet is no wash, Ecover is continuing its mission to celebrate and inspire greener laundry habits such as washing at lower temperatures, choosing more thoughtful yet effective cleaning options and celebrating laundry limbo to ultimately wash less.

By embracing the act of rewearing, consumers can save billions of litres of water and substantial amounts of energy each year, all while making their clothes last longer. These habits also reduce the need for harmful detergents and washing processes, which can contribute to the depletion of natural resources and environmental pollution.

As part of its broader environmental mission, Ecover is also committed to reducing its carbon footprint and expanding its use of plant-based and biodegradable cleaning products. The Rewear Chair complements this vision by encouraging consumers to reconsider their laundry habits, creating a full-circle approach to sustainability that spans from products to behaviour.

Lily Cole comments, “Making fashion more sustainable means rethinking not only how we produce clothing and what we buy, but also how we care for the clothes we own. Washing clothes more mindfully (washing less often, at lower temperatures, and using less chemicals), and repairing clothes when needed, can reduce waste and extend the life of our garments, so clothes can become treasured long term.”

The brand has also partnered with supermodel, writer, and sustainability advocate Lily Cole to help launch this new campaign. To celebrate Ecover’s belief that sometimes the best wash for the planet is no wash, the eco-cleaning pioneer and Lily Cole are opening the doors to 'The Capsule Collection', a pop-up store and panel discussion hosted in partnership with Charity Super.Mkt. Consumers will have the opportunity to shop pre-loved styles in-store and learn how to wash and shop less wastefully via a panel of sustainability and eco- conscious fashion experts - an activation made with PR agency Manifest.