Care For Your Cashmere Sweaters
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Alright, here is some information about how to clean and care for your cashmere collection. *****SUPER IMPORTANT: The following applies to KNIT fabrics, not WOVEN fabrics found in many suits and blankets.*****
Wearing:
Stain Removal:
Ask questions if you need help!
My video entry!
Now back to the show...
Alright, here is some information about how to clean and care for your cashmere collection. *****SUPER IMPORTANT: The following applies to KNIT fabrics, not WOVEN fabrics found in many suits and blankets.*****
Wearing:
- Wait for your deodorant to dry before putting on your sweater. This will help keep the deodorant from building up on the inside of the sweater. It's a giant PIA (pain in the you-know-what) to remove.
- Do not wear perfume. It can stain your sweater and attract moths (boo!).
- Do not wear the same sweater more than once in a four/five day period.
- Try to keep your sweater away from rough items: purses, jewelry, etc. These items can cause pilling, a snag, or even a hole! (gasp!)
- I do not recommend dry-cleaning your cashmere sweaters unless you need specific stain removal treatments.
- Wash your sweaters in your PRE-CLEANED sink or a large Tupperware bin. (Please don't wash your cashmere after you have just washed dishes. Come on now...)
- Be cautious with bulky, large pieces. They become extremely heavy when they are filled with water.
- Do not hold up a wet piece of cashmere by the shoulders, this will stretch your sweater. Keep your sweater in a lump when you go to pick it up when wet, fully supported by your hands. Think: BLOB. Let it be a blob.
- Wash you cashmere in cold water. NEVER use hot water, it will cause your sweaters to shrink.
- Use hair shampoo (after all, cashmere is goat hair...) or a mild detergent made for fine fabrics. Personally, I use Cashmere Wash from the Laundress. J Crew now sells it!
- Agitate the water and detergent before you put the sweater in. You want it to be as evenly distributed as possible.
- Press and squish the soapy water through your sweater. Do not wring, twist, or rub. SQUISH!!
- Drain the sink and rinse with the same temperature of water that you used for washing. A sudden change in temperature will cause your cashmere to shrink. So if you used warm-ish water to wash, use warm-ish water to rinse.
- After rinsing, squish and squeeze as much water as you can out of your sweater. DO NOT wring or twist. I keep my sweaters in a ball and press it in between my hands. Kind of like checking a basketball for air pressure... How else can I describe this... SQUISH the BLOB.
- Lay out your semi-wet sweater onto a towel and roll it up. Press out as much water as you can with the towel.
- Remove the sweater and lay it out on a fresh towel or drying rack, making sure to put the sweater back into its original shape. It will dry however you place it, believe me. (Tip: if you want to shrink or stretch a sweater, now is the time to do it- see my other post about this).
- Keep your sweaters away from heat sources and windows.
- Air Dry.
- TAH DAH!
**I originally wrote this post before I had the pleasure of owning a fancy washing machine with a hand wash cycle. I now use the hand wash cycle for my cashmere. If you trust your machine, GO FOR IT but don't blame me if something bad happens to your sweater, lol. If you don't trust your machine, stick with the hand washing I described above**
- If you don't feel comfortable removing stains yourself, take your sweater to a dry cleaner.
- Treat stains IMMEDIATELY with cold water and a stain remover. I use Zout and I love it.
- After your stain remover has penetrated, wash your sweater as normal. Do NOT rub or give much special attention to the stained areas. You'll rub a hole. (I know from experience, lol)
- I do not suggest this because I do not want to be responsible for mistakes, BUT: a relative of mine got a beauty oil on her cashmere sweater when a container opened in her suitcase while traveling. As far as she was concerned, the sweater was ruined so she let me fiddle with it. I used a wool carpet stain remover and it worked! I placed a towel inside the sweater, under the stain, and applied the remover. I let the remover soak into the sweater, then pressed it out with another towel. I did this over and over, pressing out the stain to the towel underneath. After it looked OK, I washed it as normal and it was as good as new.
- Clean your sweaters before you store them. Moths are attracted to natural fibers, especially when they are dirty or stained. Ever notice how they never go for your faux-wanna-be-cashmere-acrylic sweaters?
- When you store your pieces, fold them around a piece of tissue paper to help prevent wrinkles. Honestly, I never do this. Lol. I use a steamer when I have a pesky wrinkle.
- Do not store your sweaters in plastic. I suggest using sweater bags that are breathable, but keep critters out.
- DO NOT HANG YOUR SWEATERS, period. Seriously. Take my word for this, people.
- Use a sweater shaver to remove pilling. Do not press hard or you will shave a hole into your sweater. (I also know this from experience... See why I made this blog?)
- You may iron your sweaters on low, while inside out to remove wrinkles. Or steam!! That's what I do.
Ask questions if you need help!
Comments
Should I expect shrinkage and exchange it for a MEDIUM? Or should I expect it to stretch and stay with the size I have?
Thank you!
As for your question: if you wash your cashmere properly, you will be fine with the size you have! If you don't feel confident in your abilities, I would go with a size up.
Way to help it stay that "perfect" size: Measure your sweater in detail (every angle/side etc). When you are done washing it and are ready to let it dry, shape it to those exact measurements and it'll turn out fine! Cashmere will dry how to leave it... If there's a wrinkle, it will dry wrinkled. Just how it is!
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you. Great question!
If you are fresh out of the rain and it smells like wet dog, then yes, it will go away once it's dry. All cashmere smells like wet dog when it's wet.
I did an experiment with cashmere and the rain here: http://cashmereconnoisseur.blogspot.com/2008/01/cashmere-rain.html
and it turned out great. I hung a cashmere sweater in the rain for a couple of days and it turned out great once I washed it. No smells, stains, anything.
If you have already washed it, it might be more of a mold/mildew problem. If you took off your sweater and left it in a bunch on the floor or something and it didn't dry thoroughly, then that could be your problem. The only way I've found to remove a mold/mildew smell is to put the sweater out in the sun for a while to kill the "organism" or whatever it's called. It only happened to me once a long time ago.
Well, that's the best I can do without knowing exactly what happened. I hope that helps!
If you are talking about softness, then yes, other cashmere sweaters will be as soft as a Ralph Lauren Black Label sweater. BUT, softness alone isn't a good indicator for quality. A sweater that is TOO soft can be an indicator that there's another fiber mixed in with the cashmere. Or, it could be a sign of shorter fibers (less quality) that have started to separate from the rest of the sweater, making it look excessively fluffy.
Also, it is my understanding that Ralph Lauren uses Loro Piana yarn in their sweaters, which is outstanding quality. The yarn has longer fibers so it will pill less in the long run than cheaper sweaters.
Finally, when buying Ralph Lauren's Black Label cashmere, you get that feeling that comes with wearing expensive, designer pieces. You don't get that feeling from Gap!
In my opinion, if you bought a classic styled piece, you've made a great investment. It will last a lifetime! I try to get my black label cashmere at an outlet, Off Saks, or Neiman Marcus Last Call- it's cheaper and you can still be sure you're buying authentic Black Label!
"Ply" stands for the number of individual cashmere strands spun together before it's knitted into a garment. It doesn't have any bearing on quality. Although, 1-ply will be much more difficult to take care of since it is more fragile. It basically tells you the thickness of the sweater.
I hope this helps you! Thanks for your question!
1) Shrinking cashmere on purpose: will do a blog post about this topic. It's a FAQ
2) On rinsing: You can rinse a sweater the same way you washed it. But, for added softness and light odor removals, add a couple capfuls (1/4 cup max) of white vinegar to your rinsing.
3) Vintage sweaters: if they're good quality and not at risk for falling apart and there's only beads on it, you can wash it by hand. If you're too nervous, dry cleaning might be the way to go. If you want to spot treat, you absolutely can! A good steaming afterwards would keep it looking great! I love my vintage sweaters and they hold up just fine to hand washing.
4) Ralph Lauren: When you first buy a cashmere sweater, the first few wearings will pill a LOT more than once you've worn and washed it a few times. Your RL sweater will hold up just fine!! If it's cable knit (like most RL sweaters are) it will pill more than a normal knit sweater. Under the arms and at the cuffs is where pilling will happen more than anywhere else on the sweater. But it will last you many years once it gets the pilling "out of its system."
Sorry everyone for the HORRIBLY late responses! I'm hoping to spend a bit more time on this blog again...
@anonymous - I've found that Zout (tm) is the best stain remover for stains of that kind. Spray it on, let it sit a good long while, spray again then wash as you normally would. It's particularly important that you don't rub or wipe stains. You PRESS them out. Rubbing will create a hole where the stain was.
@anonymous #2 - that's great!
@georgina - unfortunately mold is one of the trickier things to deal with. I would try a general stain removal cycle to start, if that doesn't work then a good vinegar soak. UV rays kill mold spores (or so I've been told...) but it also changes the color of some cashmere, irreversibly. I would use the sun as a last resort and would only leave it in the sun for 30 mins or so. Might be a good next experiment for me to do! Best of luck!
I now believe the "mustard" to be yellow paint, and by putting some stain remover on to soften it, I've been able to carefully pick it out. The only challenge remains a blue ink lot on the collar.. The nurses labeled her sweater with blue pen on the tag! ������ and it bled through. Wish me luck, and thanks again so much!!
This is really fantastic! I really like the last painting!
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