an investigation of domestic laundry in europe - habits ... - SIFO

Assessment of the consumer laundry habits - a quantitative survey 3310090807060504030201005 24 16 37281592831274461526033Greece Netherlands Norway Spain5 times or more4 times3 timesTwiceOnceFigure 2-11. Frequency of changing a synthetic blouse or shirt in different countries. Percent.Synthetic fabrics are often delicate, and this is reflected in the way they arewashed. Almost every household in the survey had its own washing machine,and most of the laundry is done in the washing machine. But many householdsseem to prefer to wash their synthetic blouses and shirts by hand. This ismost common among the Greek respondents (17 %) and in Spain (14 %). Therespondents from the Netherlands seem to be less inclined to wash their syntheticblouses and shirts by hand (7 %), and in Norway this is only slightlymore common (9 % report laundering these items by hand).Even though the way it is washed seems to indicate that synthetic fabric ismore delicate, there are few respondents except in Spain who report that theylaunder these items in cold water. 55 % of the Spanish respondents wash theirsynthetic fabrics in cold water. The strongest tendency to use somewhatwarmer water is in Greece and Norway, but the temperature used is seldommore than 40 °C. This pattern is the same as we have seen earlier.2.4.6 Thin woollen sweatersAlmost all the respondents seem to have at least one thin woollen sweater.Thin woollen sweaters are delicate in the sense that wool gets damaged veryeasily and shrinks if it is washed too vigorously or in water that is too hot.Figure 2-12 reveals that the same pattern repeats itself. It is the respondentsfrom Spain and the Netherlands that are most likely to wash their sweatersafter a single use. A larger percentage of the Norwegian and Greek respondentsquote that they use a thin woollen sweater several times before washingit. 29 % of the Norwegian respondents say they use it five times or more.