Cashmere
Cashmere is often considered a material that needs to be dry cleaned. However, the experts we spoke to in our guide to washing cashmere insisted that hand washing is actually better for your clothes in the long run because dry cleaning typically involves harsh chemicals that can damage cashmere fibers.
You also don’t have to hand wash your cashmere often. We don’t recommend doing this after every wear; instead, we suggest washing it after every seven to 10 wears, and then again before putting it away in early summer, as extra protection against moths.
To properly wash cashmere, you need a sink or basin large enough to completely submerge the clothes in water, and either a drying rack that allows the clothes to lay completely flat (like this net from OXO) or a white bath towel large enough to allow the clothes to lay flat. (Avoid using colored bath towels, which can transfer dye to the cashmere.) You’ll also need a mild soap, like baby shampoo, or a hand wash like our pick Soak (which doesn’t need to be rinsed).
We break down these instructions in our guide to hand washing cashmere.
Silk (if it is high quality or light)
Believe it or not, the more expensive the silk clothing, the better suited it is for hand washing rather than dry cleaning. While price doesn’t always equate to quality, water can usually cause cheaper silk to lose its shape over time, either stretching or shrinking it.
To quickly determine if your silk is hand washable, gently scrunch it into a ball and release it. If it opens smoothly, it’s likely hand washable. If instead it remains wrinkled and wrinkled, it should probably be dry cleaned.
You should also consider the color and pattern of your silk. The darker the color, the better it is dry cleaned. The same goes for silks with bright patterns or contrasts of dark and light, as the darker dye may bleed into the lighter parts during hand washing.
Once you determine that it’s best to wash silk by hand, you can do the job in the sink using a detergent designed for delicate fabrics, similar to what we recommend above for cashmere. Be sure to use cool, not hot, water. Once you have removed most of the water by gently wringing and wrapping the garment in a towel, we also recommend hanging the silk rather than laying it flat to ensure it dries in the correct shape. (Some hangers can cause dimples in the shoulders, so it’s a good idea to try padded hangers and keep a steamer at the ready.)
Wool sweaters, blankets and (after checking the lining) coats and suits.
Dry cleaning chemicals may be too abrasive for finer wool. Most modern wools (including our recommended base layers and wool blankets) are treated so they can be machine washed without shrinking. However, the same cannot be said for vintage wool items, so be sure to check the manufacturer’s care instructions before cleaning.
While you may already know that washing wool in the coldest water possible is key, here’s another helpful tip: Be sure to use your machine’s most gentle setting, because high agitation and strong spin cycles are also culprits in wool shrinkage.
Your suit can probably skip a trip to the dry cleaner, too. The best way to get rid of dirt on your suit is to spot clean.
If your wool suit or coat is more wrinkled than dirty, you can have the suit dry cleaned instead of dry cleaned to restore its freshness.
Find out more about how to keep your wool coat looking new.
Duvets, jackets, vests and sleeping bags
Down is another material that can be damaged by dry cleaning chemicals, but unfortunately we have found that machine washing items can void your warranty in some cases. As we wrote in our guide to the best duvets, “We machine washed Brooklinen’s dry-clean-only linen (one of our picks for the best duvet) for testing purposes, and it worked great, but Brooklinen doesn’t recommend it.”
The best way to wash a duvet is in a front-loading washing machine with a mild detergent on the delicate cycle and cold water. Then run a shorter soap-free cycle again to make sure all the detergent is gone, as these can also shorten the life.
For more tips on washing and drying at home, see the Care and Maintenance sections of our blanket guide or insulated jacket guide.
Dress shirts (no matter what they’re made of)
Our guide to the best men’s button-down shirts includes options in cotton, linen, and nylon-spandex blends—and none of them need to be dry cleaned. Wash all these materials in cold water to prolong the life of the shirt, and remember that hang drying rather than tumble drying prevents significant shrinkage.
Bed pillows (regardless of what’s inside them)
Down pillows, down-substitute pillows, foam pillows—whatever you lay your head on, they can all be washed at home in cold or warm water in the washer and dryer with regular laundry detergent (though we recommend our top pick, Tide Ultra Stain Release). As an alternative to lint and fluff, run an extra rinse cycle to ensure all soap is removed from the interior parts before drying. For foam pillows, remove the filling and simply wash the cover separately; then hang to dry. Washing foam may cause mold or damage to the pillow and may void your warranty.
Drying too long at a high temperature can also ruin your pillow filling, but experts say high temperature is the best defense against germs and dust, so turn your dryer on high for just 20 minutes and turn it down to low until it’s dry.
In our article, we will walk through the entire process of how to wash and dry bed pillows.
This article was edited by Alex Aciman and Catherine Kast.
#items #dry #cleaned #label #trending #[now:year]
