With a second wave of lockdown upon us, it seems shacked up British couples could be taking out their tensions at home on their partner’s laundry load, as new research released today by Colour Catcher, finds that 1 in 4 (23%) couples living in London said they have damaged their partner’s laundry as payback (or would) – during lockdown disagreements; and a staggering 42% are having arguments over their partner’s dirty laundry disasters.

Colour run is the number one (63%) issue that Londoners are facing with their loads, followed by clothes fading (58%), being torn (55%), and shrinking (29%) – with 1 in 5 Brits (23%) having gone two to three days not speaking after a damaged load; 26% four to five days; and 18% of couples have spent up to a week not speaking following a washing woe.

Londoners are spending a whopping £969.2 million a year replacing clothes that have been damaged in the wash. 53% admitted that they only fill half of their drum – with 47% of the city residents saying it’s because they don’t want to mix their lights and dark in the same wash and 59% have avoided washing an item that might leak.

Laundry sabotaging was also at play as restrictions were lifted, with a sports game or match being the most likely occasion for a disaster to occur (just beforehand); along with holiday; the first day at school; and even a work interview – were on the top 10 sabotaging list.

Top colours to run are:

Top clothes causing colour damage:

1. Red – 55%

1. Jeans – 40%

2. Black – 37%

2. Socks – 23%

3. Blue – 28%

3. Underwear – 19%

4. Purple – 21%

4. White T-shirts – 19%

5. Orange – 18%

5. Shirts – 17%

Rachel Ferreira, from Colour Catcher, comments: “With more of us spending time together at home, there is naturally more pressure than usual. So to help make life at home easier, we are getting Brits to #DareToMix with our new campaign by using Colour Catcher in every wash. This simple addition to the washing will not only prevent colour run accidents but also protect the brightness of clothes and save up to 2 hours a week on time spent doing the laundry.

“Brits can join the #DareTo Mix campaign on Instagram throughout November and build awareness by sharing videos or images using Colour Catcher to show that the proof is on the sheet by using #ColourCatcher #DareToMix #ProofIsOnTheSheet and tagging @DYLONColourCatcher in social posts.”