Most clothes air dry in 1 to 4 hours outside on a sunny, breezy day, and in 4 to 24 hours indoors. The time depends more on the air than on the clothes, so jeans that dry in three hours on a windy afternoon can still be damp at the seams after a day in a closed bathroom. Below are the ranges, then what changes them.
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How long do clothes take to air dry?
| Item | Outside, sunny and breezy | Indoors, airy room |
|---|---|---|
| T-shirts, socks, underwear | 1 to 2 hours | 4 to 8 hours |
| Shirts and thin dresses | 2 to 3 hours | 6 to 12 hours |
| Jeans and trousers | 3 to 4 hours | 12 to 24 hours |
| Towels | 3 to 4 hours | 12 to 24 hours |
| Sweaters, laid flat | Half a day or more | A day or more |
Treat these as a starting point. Indoors in a damp, still room, add hours. Outside on a grey day with no wind, clothes can still be damp by evening.
Air drying clothes: five things that change the time
1. How hard the machine spun. This is the easiest gain. A faster spin, or a second spin, takes out water you’d otherwise wait hours to lose.
2. Moving air. Air that’s already damp can’t take any more. A breeze, an open window, a fan across the rack or a dehumidifier keeps replacing it. This matters more than warmth.
3. Humidity. On a muggy day, or in a small room full of wet laundry, drying slows right down. A load gives off about two litres of water as it dries, which is plenty to saturate a closed bathroom.
4. How the clothes hang. Folded double over a rail, a towel is twice as thick and dries at half the speed. Hang things full width, leave gaps, and turn heavy items halfway through.
5. The fabric. Thin cotton and synthetics dry fastest. Denim, towelling, fleece and anything quilted hold water deep in the weave, and thick seams and waistbands are always the last to go.
How to air dry clothes fast indoors
- Run the extra spin.
- Put the rack in the room with a window you can open or an extractor fan, and close the door.
- Point a fan across it, or run a dehumidifier in the same room.
- Give each item its own rail. A rack with two levels and wings, like the Costway below, makes that easier.
COSTWAY Foldable 2-Tier Clothes Drying Rack, 33 Rails
- Open size
- 60.5 W x 22 D in; 35.5 to 69.5 in high with the wings up
- Folded size
- 45 x 22 x 3.5 in
- Drying space
- 33 rails plus sock clips
- Maximum load
- 44 lb (some listings say 80 lb)
Specs: amazon.comchecked
Where to air dry clothes indoors
A load gives off its water into the room, and in a cold house that ends up as condensation on windows and walls, which can lead to damp and mould. The housing association Platform advises:
- Dry in the kitchen or bathroom, where an extractor fan can take the damp air out, with the door closed.
- Avoid bedrooms. You add moisture to the air while you sleep, so the clothes dry slower and the room gets damper.
- Don’t hang clothes straight on radiators. Use a rack with space around it so the air can move, in a sunny spot if you have one.
- Open a window for short spells, wipe the windows down, and run a dehumidifier if you have one; Platform says it costs less to run than a tumble dryer.
When air drying clothes is really done
Feel the thickest part, not the surface: the waistband of jeans, the hem of a towel, the seams of a hoodie. If it feels cool, it’s still damp, even when it looks dry, and clothes put away damp start to smell.
