How to care for cashmere in 6 simple steps
High-quality cashmere is a material with the potential to serve you for a lifetime, provided you care for it properly. But what does it mean? How do you care for cashmere? What does caring for cashmere even mean? Let’s start with the latter.
Caring for cashmere is a journey. A journey into the world of delicacy and softness of the fibres.
It’s a continuous process that helps your clothes stay in perfect condition, every season. And to finish this journey, you need to prepare. You need knowledge.
That’s why we made this guide on how to care for cashmere.
How to care for cashmere?
Just like the headline suggests, we divided the cashmere care journey into 6 aspects. They are:
- What’s the best detergent for cashmere?
- How to wash cashmere?
- How to dry and iron cashmere?
- How to store cashmere?
- Did your cashmere shrink? Here’s the fix!
- Cashmere pilling and how to remove it.
These steps combine into the cashmere care guide of the most important knowledge you need to take proper care of cashmere. So, what will you learn from each one of the listed articles?
The first step on your cashmere care journey is to learn about the most important tool you’re going to be using. The detergent. Not any old detergent, but one that’s specifically made for cashmere and woolens. You’ll learn why this distinction is so important and why you should never, ever, use soap to wash cashmere.
We’ll also take a close look at common detergent ingredients, and tell you which ones you should be wary of. To finish it off, we prepared a comparison of some of the most prominent cashmere detergents on the market. We’ll examine them to make it easier for you to choose the right one for the job.
The next step on your journey is to use the detergent of your choice in practice. This article is the ultimate guide on how to wash cashmere. And it serves as a foundation for every other aspect of cashmere care.
In this guide, you’ll learn why hand-washing cashmere is the best and safest way to clean your garments. But, we’ll also explain many questions in regard to washing machines and the dry cleaning process. As, although not recommended, you may one day need to use these methods. And after reading, you’ll know how to best protect your clothes for such washing processes.
And if your cashmere garment only has a single dirtied spot, fret not. We also cover spot cleaning cashmere.
All these methods follow an easy step-by-step guide written, to aid you as best as we can. We also give you the best general tips, emphasizing patience, and the delicacy needed to not damage your cashmere.
So what’s next on our cashmere care journey?
After you wash your cashmere garment, it’s time to dry it. But unlike many other clothes, you can’t just toss it in the dryer. Dryers are very dangerous for cashmere fibres. As such, cashmere needs to dry naturally. We’ll tell you all you need to know about that.
And it’s not just dryers. We also discuss other traps, such as hanging cashmere to dry or exposing it to direct sunlight. Of course, right next to all the things you shouldn’t do, we also describe what you should do to dry cashmere the right way.
The next part is an optional one. In a step-by-step way, we describe to you the process of both ironing and steaming cashmere. That’s just in case your cashmere got wrinkly and needs a bit of invigoration.
And the next part of our cashmere care instructions is…
Storing is extremely important, even though it may sound super simple. If you store cashmere properly, not only do you increase its longevity, but you also protect it against outside factors.
Here you’ll learn all about the best practices for storing cashmere. These include why your cashmere should be stored folded, not hung. How to store your cashmere for both short and long-term. We also discuss which bags you might want to use to store cashmere. Why you should avoid both plastic and vacuum bags, and why you might want to consider knitwear bags.
And, of course, what to do to protect your garments from moths. This part will help you prepare all the tools you need to keep your clothes moth-free. Cedarwood, lavender, and even the aforementioned bags all play an important role in this aspect.
And now that you have your cashmere washed, dried, and stored properly, it’s time to fix some potential mistakes that might’ve happened along the way. Starting with the answer to…
Throughout our cashmere care journey, we have mentioned in almost every article that temperature plays a very important role. But accidents can happen. And they are not the end of the world. If you made a mistake and washed your cashmere scarf in warm water, it probably shrank a lot. We have the solution!
We’ll present you with a step-by-step guide on how to unshrink cashmere. And what’s great about it is, if you’ve already read our hand-washing and drying guides, you’re going to be great at it. With a similar cleaning process, we’ll help your cashmere get back to its proper shape and size. But that’s not all. We also describe a way to shrink your cashmere if you want to do so.
And to finish this part, we answer some of the most common questions in regard to shrinking cashmere such as: “Will cashmere shrink when washed?” Or, “Does cashmere shrink when dry cleaned?”.
And now for the last step!
Last but not least on our cashmere care journey is the case of pilling. We’ll tell you why cashmere is subject to pilling, and how to minimize the chances of it occurring. And, as you may guess, you can minimize pilling by exercising proper cashmere care. Our journey is a nice, tightly connected loop, isn’t it?
But even if we do our best to minimize pilling, it can happen. So what then? We will tell you about two fantastic types of tools that can help you with de-pilling. First, we’ll take a look at cashmere shavers, with which you can cut loose fibres. We prepared a detailed comparison of two shavers to help you decide if you want a shaver rather than the other option.
And that second option, which we recommend, are cashmere combs. They are used to brush the pilling off which is then easily disposable. Just like with shavers, we have compared two fantastic cashmere combs in great detail.
And that’s it! You are now equipped with all the knowledge you need on your journey. You’ll definitely notice how rewarding putting your time and effort into caring for cashmere is. You’ll develop a deep bond between you and your clothes. And of course, you’ll keep them fine, clean, and healthy for a very long time.
And that’s why we prepared this cashmere care guide. So that you smile bright each time you wear your cashmere with pride.
Because nothing makes us happier.