London, Feb 17 (IANS): The average adult ruins one or two pieces of clothing each year whilst doing their laundry, with more than 600,000 estimated to have spoiled a staggering nine items in just 12 months, according to a survey.

Almost two-thirds of people surveyed admit to damaging garments this way, demonstrating a lack of understanding and attention when it comes to caring for their clothing, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Men come off worse in the survey results, tending to ruin more pricey clothes than women and likely to do just one wash each week, showing less care for maintaining their wardrobes.

Men are also less likely than women to be put off buying certain items because of the care instructions, says the research, conducted by LG Electronics. The firm once again teamed up with London Fashion Week to provide garment care for the leading designers.

Here are some tips to reduce your fashion waste:

* Check out the instructions: Read garment care tags carefully. It sounds basic, but it's worth taking extra time to properly read and understand garment care instructions. If in any doubt, look the icons up online to make sure you're totally clear on how the fabric should be cleaned.

* Take time to read your washing machine manual: Most people aren't aware of the full range of features and washes available. Delicate wash settings can save you time and money at the dry cleaners and minimise the risk of a laundry mishap.

* Don't overstuff your washing machine: It's important to fill the drum so that you're economic on water use and energy consumption, but stuffing it full will prevent your clothes being cleaning properly. A pretty universal measure is to fill your washing machine drum three quarters full.

* Keep wools in shape: Sometimes people are nervous about washing wools in the machine, but as long as you set the wash temperature correctly (and follow specific garment care tag instructions), there's no reason to be. What's important is the drying phase - make sure you dry wools flat and keep them in their natural shape. Hang them upright and there's a chance they'll stretch with the weight of water.