Ecover makes cleaning products, including those for the laundry. It wants people to wash their clothes less often. These two things would be incompatible if we still lived in the 20th century. Ecover would not be an eco-pioneer. Its cleaning products would not be ecologically sound.
But the need to look after the planet is urgent in the 21st century. And that’s why Ecover exists. Overwashing clothes is bad for the planet. And Ecover wants to highlight its planet-protecting mission. Uncommon Creative Studio is helping to deliver Ecover’s message. The agency and Ecover have created the Rewear Chair to do that.
The chair is a piece of handcrafted, sustainable furniture design. It doesn’t make you think about sacrifice for the good of the planet. It shows that the eco choice doesn’t have to be the difficult choice.
It is made from 100% sustainable materials – wind-felled cedarwood, chosen for its natural deodorising qualities, ensuring that clothes stay fresh without constant washing, complemented with reclaimed ash fixtures and natural beeswax to smooth the joints. A natural felt insert is infused with cedar oil to deodorise the clothes. 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. It is handmade in Dorset, ensuring quality and sustainability from start to finish.
“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,” Uncommon stated.
“The Rewear Chair is a celebration and reappraisal of the laundry chair – turning an untidy habit into a joyful, interactive and multi sensory experience, encouraging us to wash less, and think more consciously about our laundry habits.”
“We’re taking a common behaviour and turning it into something beautiful and intentional,” added Nils Leonard, co-founder 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.”
The launch of The Rewear Chair is part of a larger sustainability campaign by Ecover 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. 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.
Decades of misunderstanding fuelled by misguided household traditions and beliefs have led nearly one in five UK 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, nearly a quarter (24%) of UK 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.
On the positive side, 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.
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. And the brand has partnered with supermodel, writer, and sustainability advocate, Lily Cole, to help launch the new campaign. The pair are opening the doors to The Capsule Collection, a pop-up store and panel discussion hosted in partnership with charity, Super.Mkt.
