As soon as you’ve washed your cashmere sweater for the second time, it looks like ***! But… enough is enough!
Anyone knows it: For winter, you treat yourself with an expensive cashmere sweater or a dozen cosy and warming winter jumpers, but once you’ve washed your woollen favourites one or two times it looks like they’ve experienced a serious transformation in the washer. But that’s the lucky end of it! We’ll show you tips and tricks to care for your winter clothes.
Cashmere
Rule N° 1: ALWAYS wash cashmere in cold water and by hand! It’s recommended to use a special detergent for the delicate fabric. Furthermore, don’t hang your cashmere sweaters for drying, better take the wet bundle and display it without wringing flat on the clothes horse. Tip: lay a towel underneath to avoid a pond under the clothes horse. Fun Fact: if the drying needs to be quick, just use a salad spinner. If your cashmere sweater starts pilling, best use a cashmere razor to take off the fuzzy balls. A simple disposable razor works as well. Handle with Careful: don’t press too hard to avoid ugly holes in your sweater!
Wool
For winter coats and sweaters, you should always carry a small lint roller in your handbag in winter. It’s best to use the lint roller or a suede brush every second day. Tip: if by coincidence, the roller runs empty, you may use Gaffa Tape or parcel tape instead, they work just as well. Don’t hang coats on jam-packed clothes racks – the fabric must be able to breathe. Important: stains should be dabbed off with cold water or fizzy, rubbing destroys the fibres of the fabric. For the wash, you should opt for the wool or the hand wash setting – the less your woollen garment it tumbled, the longer it keeps its shape.
Down
Less is more! For down garments, you should use as little detergent as possible, soap risks to take away the feathers’ fluffiness. It takes two: washing down garments takes time! Wash in two wash cycles, the second time without detergent. Down garments should be tumbled dry at low heat, add tennis balls for the drying process. Air drying bears the risk of the feathers clumping together. Important: take the garment out of the tumbler several times during the dry and fluff it up. By the way: here you can find all the labels that have committed to responsible down standards. Thumbs Up!
Translation: Danielle De Bie
