An open zipper is a row of small metal teeth on a stiff tape, tumbling for forty minutes against everything else in the drum. It behaves exactly like you would expect a row of small metal teeth to behave.
Closing it takes two seconds. Most of the damage people blame on their machine, on cheap fabric, or on nothing in particular comes down to a handful of habits at this level.
Zippers, which do the most damage
An open zipper snags. It catches knits and pulls threads, it abrades anything soft it lands against, and the exposed teeth wear on the drum finish over years.
It also damages itself. A zipper tumbling open flexes at the base, where the tape meets the slider, and that is the point that eventually separates. A jacket zipper that stopped closing properly usually failed there.
Close every zipper before the load goes in. Jackets, hoodies, trousers, cushion covers, bags.
While you are there, do the same with hooks and eyes, Velcro, and any clasp. Velcro is the underrated one. A single open Velcro strip will collect lint, pull loops out of towels, and attach itself to a knit hard enough to ruin it in one cycle.
Buttons and the opposite rule
Buttons work the other way, and this catches people out.
Leave shirt buttons undone. A buttoned shirt tumbling in a drum puts all the stress on the buttonhole and the thread, and buttoned collars and cuffs are where shirts fail first.
The same logic applies to a duvet cover: leave it open, or it fills with the rest of the load and becomes a bag with everything else inside it.
So the rule is not “fasten everything.” It is fasten what would otherwise snag, and unfasten what would otherwise be pulled against.
Turn things inside out
Abrasion happens to whichever surface faces outward, so turning a garment inside out moves the wear to the side nobody sees.
It matters most for dark denim and dark cotton, which fade from surface abrasion rather than from the dye washing out. It matters for anything printed or screen-printed, where the print cracks from rubbing. And it matters for anything with a nap or a pile, corduroy and velvet and fleece, which flatten.
Also for embroidery and sequins, where the threads catch on everything if they face out.
Mesh bags, which solve several problems at once
A few mesh bags are the cheapest upgrade in a laundry room.
Anything with underwire. Wire works loose, slips between the drum and the outer tub, and rattles around until something is damaged. This is a genuinely common and expensive repair.
Small items. Socks, baby clothes, anything that can find its way into the door seal or the drain path.
Delicates and knits, which get their own bag so nothing with hardware can reach them.
Anything already fraying, because a loose thread in a drum becomes a pulled seam.
Use a few smaller bags rather than one large one. A single stuffed bag does not let water through properly and the contents come out barely washed.
The pocket check, which is not only about your clothes
Pens are the famous one and they are not the worst.
Coins and hairpins are worse, because they get past the drum and into the drain pump, and a pump that has ingested a coin is a repair rather than an inconvenience.
Tissues destroy a whole load with lint that takes several washes to clear. Lip balm and crayons melt in a dryer and mark everything. Phone earbuds do not survive.
Ten seconds per garment on the way into the basket, rather than at the machine, is the version of this habit that actually sticks.
Sorting away from the hardware
Even fully closed, jeans and jackets are hard on light fabric. Metal rivets, buttons, and thick seams abrade anything soft that tumbles against them for forty minutes.
Keep heavy items with heavy items. A load of denim on its own is fine. A load of denim with knit shirts wears out the shirts.
This one sort does more for how long clothes last than any detergent decision.
Why it shows up faster on shared machines
None of the above is about machine quality. It is about what tumbles against what.
The machines at our self-service laundry on Fulton Street give you the drum size to run a proper separation without doing six small loads, so the denim goes in one machine and the knits go in another and they finish at the same time.
Our machines and the store are cleaned daily, and that includes checking drums and door seals for what the last load left behind, which is where a stray underwire would otherwise sit waiting for your clothes.
Our wash-dry-fold service covers everyday laundry when the sorting is the part you would rather skip.
The short version
Close every zipper, hook, and Velcro strip before washing, because open hardware snags fabric and wears out the zipper itself. Leave buttons undone, since a buttoned shirt puts all the strain on the buttonhole. Turn dark denim, prints, and anything with a pile inside out, because fading is abrasion on the outward face. Bag anything with underwire, since loose wire between the drum and the tub is a real repair. Check pockets on the way into the basket rather than at the machine. And keep denim away from knits, which does more for the life of your clothes than any detergent.
WaveMAX Houston is at 2611 Fulton Street, easy to reach from the Near Northside and the surrounding neighborhoods. Questions before you come in, call us at 713-485-4726.