Modern elastic is much more durable than you think. Except items that are marked as gentle wash. Quite a lot of my textiles get washed in hot, and they are cotton, very durable. I have a ton of dark/black clothing that gets washed in hot, never fades or runs in color. The trick is to use a detergent without any optical brighteners on clothing and rinses well.

Everything I own gets a hot wash the first time if it's a natural material. Anything that's a blend of 50% synthetic/50% cotton also gets a hot wash. Items that shrink get returned to the store. If they don't shrink they are better quality items and will never shrink in the future.

Synthetics should be done in warm water and enough soap to clean & kill germs. Hot is not really necessary unless they are very dirty/sweaty/greasy. Hot water + baking soda .25-.5 cup will fix that. Baking soda does not do well in cold water.

Cold water is not doing you any favors. Warm/hot temperatures help to dissolve grease & stains, Cold just sloshes it in soapy water and may not clean very well. No one is saving a ton of 'energy' by washing in cold all the time. Scented detergents prevent you from smelling if your cold wash actually cleaned your clothes.

Truly clean clothes have no scent on them at all. And if your clothes come out of the dryer feeling stiff, you used too much detergent and didn't rinse well.

Thank you for attending my Clean TedTalk.