[philman_36]

The rule of thumb I was taught over 50 years ago was colors in cold and whites in hot.

Seems to still be true.

[goodnesswins]

Well...times change...all underwear is no longer white, and my white blouses will never feel hot water

[Robert A Cook PE]

The rule of thumb I was taught over 50 years ago was colors in cold and whites in hot.

Fine. THIS “study” examined T-shirts. And, more importantly, “fiber-loss from the T-Shirts while washing many times in either hot or cold water.

Great. Washing cotton clothes in hotter water continually caused fiber loss over time. (Fibre-loss actually - this was a British study after all.)

What about “dirt loss”? Is not “removing dirt” more important than “minimizing loss of cotton micro-fibres” ? Yes. My hot-washed cotton handkerchiefs and socks do lose mass over time. And, after 4 - 5 years, they are regularly replaced.

[Sacajaweau]

And I still use Tide...I’m 80.

[minnesota_bound]

At the apartment I live in we have a Maytag washer and a Speed Queen and the Maytag has a agitator that is not flush at the bottom as the fin curves up so as the clothes and linen are pulled up and down they sometimes get caught in the gap and are stretched and will be ripped. Looks like this https://tinyurl.com/mwtd483j

The Speed Queen is flush and has zero problems.
We also have a front loader which does not clean well and smells moldy all the time. I bring Baking Soda to use as it freshens the clothes.