Fashion designer Stella McCartney has long advocated avoiding the washing machine to clean our clothes.

She said that the rule is to "let the dirt dry and you brush it off" because of the impact that washing clothes has on the environment and due to clothes lasting longer by washing them less.

We asked readers whether they agree with her view.

Jenny Mckellar, 56, a civil servant from Salisbury, said: “I don’t think we should never wash our clothes, but we shouldn’t wash them as much. I try to wear things more than once.”

Shaun Turtle, 24, a bar assistant from West End, said: “We should wash clothes, but how often you wash them depends on the fabric. I wouldn’t wash denim as often but obviously I wash my underwear and things like that often.”

Jillian Tribbott, 57,a sales assistant from Isle of Wight, said: “If people don’t wash clothes, they will smell. I try and wait until I have a full load and split them up into whites and darks, and usually wash at 40 degrees. I don’t use as much conditioner as it says on the bottle, that lasts me ages.”

Gerry Ohara, 64, a support worker from Maybush, said: “People will be smelly if they don’t wash their clothes. From a hygiene point of view, I think that’s a dumb and bad idea.”