New research released today has revealed a significant lack of access to clean clothes for those experiencing poverty and that those in London are some of the worst affected in the UK, with Londoners in hygiene poverty having to frequently re-wear the likes of dirty underwear and face a significant impact on their mental health, physical health and work.

The research, from challenger brand, smol, has found that 2.6m Britons have struggled to afford to wash their clothes- and that almost a third (28%[3]) of Londoners experiencing hygiene poverty (the inability to afford hygiene products that many of us take for granted) frequently struggle to afford to wash their clothes, instead prioritising being able to afford food (30%) and electricity (25%).

To get by, 42% of those in London who are experiencing hygiene poverty have had to re-wear dirty underwear, more than any other UK region; 1 in 6 (16%) regularly have to do so. Parents are also struggling more than anywhere else, with 44% having had to have their children re-wear dirty clothes as they can’t afford to wash them.To be able to wash their clothes, a quarter (23%) have had to wash their clothes with a bar of hand soap, almost a third (29%) have used washing up liquid and a third (31%) have avoided using the washing machine altogether due to electricity costs.

Isolation and impact on wellbeing
With hygiene poverty on the rise, many in London are becoming isolated due to shame, with a third (34%) having avoided leaving the house in the past month due to feeling self-conscious about a lack of clean clothes; half (52%) have felt self-conscious in public about this. This has led to a loss of relationships, with almost a quarter (23%) feeling so overwhelmed due to a lack of clean clothes that they don’t have the time and energy to maintain friendships.

With a third (30%) of those surveyed experiencing hygiene poverty in the UK expecting access to clean clothes to get worse[4] over the next year, smol is setting out to raise 250,000 donated laundry capsules to The Hygiene Bank to ensure those struggling will have the means to wash their and their families clothes, in its fifth year of partnering with the charity.

Impact on mental and physical health
Mental and even physical health is being impacted; half (53%) of Londoners in hygiene poverty say a lack of clean clothes has negatively impacted their mental wellbeing, with a quarter (25%) rating their mental health as poor. Over a half (58%) say it has negatively impacted their physical health.

Of those surveyed in London who say that a lack of clean clothes impacts their physical health, over half (53%) said it is because they stay indoors more, and do less physical activity, whilst over a third (35%) are simply too ashamed to keep fit because they can’t afford to regularly wash their activewear; almost 1 in 5 (17%) regularly have to re-wear dirty sportswear.

Impact on work
Those experiencing hygiene poverty in London are most likely than any other region in the UK to have had their job impacted by struggling to afford to clean their clothes (59%)- with 27% regularly having to re-wear dirty workwear. Of those surveyed who said their job has been negatively impacted, 63% say it is because they have lost confidence in themselves and a third (35%) say they have been judged at work for their lack of clean clothes or hygiene. Concerningly, almost 1 in 5 (17%) say it is because they have avoided going to a job interview, whilst over 1 in 10 (13%) have avoided going to work altogether due to unclean clothes.

Young people across the UK struggling the most
The research has found that nationally, young people in hygiene poverty, aged 16-24, are struggling more than any other age group- with 93% having struggled to afford to wash their clothes, and a quarter (25%) frequently so. They are the most likely to have been judged in public for not having clean clothes (25%) and the age group with the most negative impact on their job (64%), as well as the age group most frequently sacrificing clean clothes in favour of rent or mortgage repayments with 1 in 5 (19%) doing so.

When it comes to mental health, young people were the most likely to say that a lack of clean clothes has an impact[5] on their mental wellbeing (61%) and the most likely to have stayed indoors in the past month and avoided going out due to a lack of clean clothes (39%).

To find out about the multiple ways to help smol and The Hygiene Bank meet the target of 250,000 washes, and read more about what Clean Clothes Can do, visit www.smolproducts.com/clean-clothes-can.