Please don't tell me (and my now dress-length favorite sweater) that sweater care is best left to the dry cleaner. Think it is easier? I beg to differ. Add up the time it takes to drop them off, wanting to wear them while they are gone, remembering to pick them up, forking over HOW MUCH? for them, filling up your bins and landfills with a sea of plastic and pathetic hangers, all to find something wrong 20% of the time versus taking 2 minutes of preventative care and 10 minutes of cleaning activity. Honestly, taking a little care of your own sweaters will help them take care of you all season long, and it is very easy.
Avoid Sweat: Keep you off your sweaters by wearing an undershirt or placing underarm shields, like Garment Guard, in the pits to keep deodorant and sweat from getting onto the sweater in the first place. If you do get sweaty in your sweater, clean it as soon as possible instead of letting it sit. Also, choose wool over synthetics like nylon because wool is hard to get stinky, especially if you air it out after wear instead of cramming it into a dark drawer.
Avoid Shrinkage & Stretching: I normally buy natural fiber-sweaters, whether cashmere, merino wool, or cotton, which means I can wash them myself- in cold to warm water. Washing them in hot water or accidentally throwing them in the dryer is a recipe for shrinkage, which can be a good thing when an overzealous dry cleaner stretches them out. I avoid this by keeping them separate from the rest of my laundry.
To wash merino wool and cashmere, use Soak Wash in a basin of water and let them soak clean for 15 minutes. Never wring out the water. Roll each one in a clean towel and press to absorb the excess (aka do the jelly roll), then lay flat to dry to avoid stretching. I prefer a sink or basin over the gentle cycle in the machine, because less friction means less pilling.
Get Rid of Balls: Generally, the fuzzier a sweater is at first, the more balls (or pilling or fuzz) you can expect. As you probably guessed, pilling happens with friction. Major culprits are heavy mouse use (forearm), bags and backpacks (hips), and extreme chair dancing. But de-pilling is quick and easy with a simple sweater comb. Spend about 2 minutes brushing your sweater with the mesh screen to pull off all the fuzz balls, resulting in a sweater that looks like new.
Are you ready to take care of your sweaters? Do you have other tips people would like to know?
Kim Castellano is the founder and chief inventor of Fashion First Aid. A former attorney, she left law in 1999 to sell Garment Guard, the first disposable adhesive underarm shields, and landed Nordstrom as one of her first accounts. She has since created more than 55 products for the problems people would rather not talk about, and holds several patents and trademarks on them.
0 comments