Ever thrown something in the washing machine, even though it didn’t really need a full wash? Later regretted that decision because the piece of clothing has come out just a little bit stretched out and a little more worn down?

Well Lisa Marie Bengtsson, a London designer, wanted to come up with a solution. The world is constantly trying to come up with innovative ways to reduce our impact on the environment – and this has the added bonus of saving our clothes from unnecessary damage too.

These clothes hangers are equipped with activated charcoal – that is carbon that has been treated with oxygen in such a way that it becomes a porous material that absorbs odors. You can then leave things like, say, a blazer you wore while someone was smoking, hanging up and have it smelling fresh, without having to subject it to a full on wash.

Of course, this will never remove stains nor replace actually washing dirty clothes – it’s more just to remove slight odors from not-so-dirty clothes you wish to wear again.

It’s a pretty cool concept, but I’m not sure how much I’d really use it. If I felt like I could use some clothes again, I’d probably just hang it up and let it air out – not sure the activated carbon is particularly necessary.

What do you guys think? Good environmentally-friendly innovation or making a simple thing more complicated than it needs to be?

[By Lisa Marie Bentsson | Via Geeky Gadgets]