Wooderson

Not irrational. Washing does wear down textile fibers faster than not washing. But most of us want our kits to be cleaned every now and then, so we accept the normal wear and tear, and accept that all articles of clothing have finite lifespans.

I honestly believe that if you bought three identical kits that were subjected to identical rides, but washed one on the most aggressive cycle (it's called "cottons / heavies" on my machine), and put them in the dryer, you washed the second in the most delicate cycle (it's called "hand wash" on mine) and air dried them, and gently hand washed the third (literal hand wash), you'd see three distinctly different lifespans from those garments.