To air dry clothes, spin out as much water as the fabric allows, hang each piece with a gap around it where the air moves, and lay knits flat. Each step below either takes water out, opens more of the fabric to the air, or moves more air past it.
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What you need
Before you start
Step by step: how to properly air dry clothes
- Spin it harder. Use the highest spin your fabrics allow, or run an extra spin at the end. The less water left in, the less there is to dry.
- Take it out as soon as it stops. A load left in the drum sits in its own damp and starts to smell before it ever reaches the rack.
- Shake each piece out. A sharp shake straightens the fibres and gets rid of most of the creases, so they dry softer.
- Hang with a gap. Leave a finger’s width between items, and hang them full width rather than folded double over a rail. Two layers dry at the speed of one thick one.
- Put heavy things where the air is. Towels and jeans go on the outside rails or the top of a line; small things go in the middle.
- Lay knits flat. Sweaters and heavy knits go on a flat surface or the rack’s top, shaped as you want them to dry. Hanging them stretches the shoulders and sleeves.
- Turn them halfway. Flip heavy items over once or twice. The side against the rail is always the last to dry.
- Finish with a shake or a tumble. Towels that dried stiff soften with a hard shake, or five minutes in a dryer on no heat.
How to air dry clothes inside
Pick the room with the most air movement, not the most heat. A kitchen or bathroom with the fan running dries faster than a warm, still bedroom. A dehumidifier in the same room speeds things up a lot and protects the walls; so does a fan pointed across the rack.
Keep clothes off radiators. They dry unevenly and stiffly there, and the damp goes straight into the room.
A two-tier rack doubles the drying space without doubling the floor it takes. The Costway below has wings that rise high enough for a dress or trousers to hang full length, and it folds thin enough to slide behind a door.
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
Air drying clothes outside
A breezy day dries faster than a hot still one. Hang darks inside out so the sun doesn’t fade them, and peg shirts by the hem rather than the shoulders so the peg marks don’t show. Bring things in as soon as they’re dry; clothes left out overnight pick up dew.
Air drying clothes in a small space
If you have room for a rack only on laundry day, get one that folds flat and stores behind a door. The Amazon Basics accordion rack opens in one movement and takes most of a load of shirts.
Amazon Basics Foldable Clothes Drying Rack
- Open size
- 29.5 W x 14.5 D x 41.8 H in
- Folded size
- Folds flat, accordion style; folded size not published
- Drying space
- Not published
- Maximum load
- 32 lb
Specs: amazon.comchecked
What does line dry mean on a label?
Line dry means hang it up to dry. On a care label it’s a square with a curved line at the top. Some things shouldn’t be hung at all: a square with a horizontal line in it means dry flat. Dry flat protects the shape, so follow it even though it takes longer.
