Laundering can change an item’s length, width, fit, and colour. The question is, do you still wear it? For me, it depends on three things. Do the colours still look reasonable? Is the item still comfortable? And does the item still look flattering? 

For example, my ‘70s chevron striped knitted crochet dress grew in length after handwashing and laying it out to dry. I tried dry-cleaning it to see if the length would bounce back. It didn’t. I preferred it at a shorter midaxi length, but am wearing it as a maxi because I’m in love with the vibe of the dress.

I’ve handwashed woolly knitwear in warm water instead of cold, slightly shrinking the perfect fluid fit. I managed to block the items to regain some of the volume. The fit wasn’t quite the same, but they looked great layered under jackets.

Sometimes my bright red and orange clothing, and dark blue jeans fade after laundering. They are not as perfectly crisp, bright or dark as they once were, and it’s very annoying. But I continue to wear them and try to launder them less frequently.

Unfortunately, I’ve also accidentally thrown a pair of dressy trousers into the machine that should have been dry-cleaned. They shrunk badly. Their perfect fluidly tailored fit transformed them into body-con leggings without the comfort. I had to pass them on.

Over to you. Do you continue to wear items when the laundry transforms them into something else?