Venus Williams Shares Her Secret to Tackling Tough Laundry Odors

17.09.2024 - 20:33 / thespruce.com

Laundry is one of those tasks that’s way too easy to put off–even for professional athletes like Venus Williams.

Williams lives are very active life: whether she’s competing, speaking at engagements, or traveling—so she knows a thing or two about dealing with laundry.  She's also a big lover of clothes and even archives her favorite sets she’s worn to matches—but lots of clothes leads to lots of laundry and it eventually piles up, 

“And I was just thinking about how do I change that habit?” Williams tells The Spruce. “It's like, OK, I'll do it tomorrow, do it tomorrow. And then it doesn't quite happen.”

That’s why Williams is partnering with Downy to make tackling laundry simple. We caught up with Williams to find out how she tackles laundry, her favorite Downy products, and her new book.

Because she loves clothing so much, Williams has been implementing a new strategy of downsizing her wardrobe and re-wearing some of her favorite pieces more rather than moving on to the next thing. Which also helps cut down on laundry.

“At least it's less clothes—instead of like wearing everything you have until there's nothing left to wear,” she says. “I don't think I've perfected my routine yet—I've perfected the washing, but not the actual laundry.”

Williams’ top advice for professional laundry procrastinators: make a game plan, pick your favorite pieces, and recycle them. Part of what can make laundry so daunting is simply having too much of it, but this doesn’t mean that you have to cut your entire wardrobe in half—just do a light declutter and rotate your pieces as often as possible.

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Michael Simon /