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Caring for fine clothing
Wool mostly cleans itself with airing and brushing, so rest, brushing and good hangers keep clothes going longer than dry cleaning, which strips the fibre's oils.
Wool is close to self-cleaning: airing and brushing remove most of what accumulates. Dry cleaning strips the oils that keep the fibre flexible and stresses the construction. The habits that actually extend a garment's life are rest, brushing, correct hangers and prompt attention to damage.
Tailoring
- Rest. A day between wearings, two is better. Wool recovers its shape and releases moisture.
- Brush. After each wearing, downwards, with a soft clothes brush. Dust is abrasive and is what actually wears cloth out.
- Hang. On a broad shaped wooden hanger that supports the shoulder. A wire hanger deforms the shoulder permanently and cannot be undone.
- Steam, do not press. A bathroom with a hot shower running removes most creases.
- Dry clean twice a year at most, and ask a tailor to sponge and press instead where possible.
- Repair promptly. A small tear or a loose button costs almost nothing now and considerably more later.
Shoes
- Cedar trees immediately, while the shoe is warm.
- A day of rest; rotate three pairs.
- Brush, then cream every ten to twenty wearings, then wax on the toe and heel only.
- Dry wet shoes slowly at room temperature, never near a radiator.
- Resole before the sole wears through to the welt.
Air is the underrated one
Hanging a garment somewhere with moving air for a day removes the smell that most people dry-clean to remove, at no cost and with no damage to the cloth. A great many suits are cleaned to death for want of an open window.
Knitwear and storage
Fold knitwear rather than hanging it; a hanger stretches the shoulders. Wash cool by hand or on a wool cycle, do not wring, dry flat. De-pill with a cashmere comb rather than a razor.
Moths eat keratin (wool, cashmere, silk) and are drawn to soiling. Store clean, in breathable cotton bags rather than plastic, with cedar or lavender. The most effective protection is disturbance: it is the back of the wardrobe that gets eaten.
The single most valuable habit
Rotation. Almost every failure mode in clothing (creasing set into cloth, cracked leather, worn linings, flattened knitwear, is caused by a garment being worn again before it has recovered.
Owning three suits and wearing each every third day is not three times the wardrobe of one suit worn daily. It is considerably more, because each one lasts much longer than a third as long again.
At a glance
Picture credits 1
- A jacket on a cedar hanger with a brush: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art