Clothing Maintenance

To follow-up on last week's post (my wardrobe staples) I thought I would share how I take care of my clothes.

My younger self was very lazy and wasteful. I washed (and dried) everything. Therefore, I ruined/shrunk a lot of clothing which resulted in excessive turnover. I donated or threw away clothes constantly. I cringe to think about it now. 

In the past three years, I've developed a capsule-ish wardrobe. I have clothes that I actually enjoy and look forward to wearing. I often purchase multiples of the same item because I like it so much. With that said, I want these items to last so I've had to take more time and effort to look after them. I have a few guiding principles I follow now...

1 | Fold sweaters. We all know this one, but folding is annoying so I used to hang everything. I had the horrible hanger marks in my sweaters and never even thought about changing this practice. I told you... lazy. I simply had to clear off a very small section of shelf in our closet and voila - I now fold sweaters.

2 | Don't overwash. Do cashmere sweaters need to be washed after each wear? No! I don't know why I felt the need to wash everything after a singe wear. I guess I didn't know any better. I blame my mom😂 My sweaters certainly aren't "dirty" after wearing them for 9 hours at work where I've had zero physical exertion. I also tend to wear a tee under my sweaters to act as a barrier. 

3 | Purchase reusable laundry bags. I bought this set of five from Amazon for $8 and it has been a game-changer! I wash everything (cashmere, wool, silk, bras) in the washing machine. I put all my delicates in these bags. Wash on a cold, delicate cycle with gentle detergent then lay flat to dry. I only dry clean two items in my wardrobe - they're both Burberry trench coats with 5-6 parts/layers. 

4 | Take the time to use a sweater comb. I tend to wear cashmere so pilling is apart of my life. I have this sweater comb and I use it weekly, after ironing (with this iron). I really hate ironing and combing my delicates so I force myself to do it weekly so it stays manageable (usually 3-5 items). 

5 | Have stain removers on hand! I always carry a Tide-To-Go Pen in my bag. It's been used dozens of times (by myself, friends, coworkers), but there are some stains too big for the pen. Fun story - I spilt coffee down the front of my outfit at work a month ago. I was wearing a charcoal sweater and white jeans! It was everywhere. I could have died. Fortunately, I live close to where I work. I quickly drove home and covered the coffee stain in OxyClean Gel Stain Remover. I let it sit for 3 minutes while I changed into different pants then threw them into a cold wash with detergent and OxyClean powder. The stain was completely gone! I've used this combo on a lot of Evie's clothes.