"turning a garment inside out before washing it will prolong its life because the agitation of the washing abrades the outside surface"

Wearing clothes wears them from the inside. Most of the suits I had, when I worked at RS, gave out in the seat of the pants. The clothing store always altered them, for a nice fit, on my tush. Working in the store, I was on my feet, walking around for 8-10 hours/day. When I took yet another pair in to have the seat patched, the tailor pointed out to me that the threads were broken on the inside of the seat, apparently from friction with my tush as I walked.

My jeans are nice and baggy. So my two mile daily walks in the summer don't wear them out.

Flashback department: when I was a boot at Great Lakes, we washed our clothes by hand, in a metal trough, with a scrub brush. We turned the clothes inside out, for washing. This was explained to us with "if the outside is dirtier than the inside, you're a scrounge".

Steve