Clean and care for cashmere
Clean and care for cashmere
Q: I’m willing to spend on cashmere, but only if it will last a long time. What’s the best way to care for it.
A: According to designer Thea of Ewsca, known for its cashmere sweaters, avoid dry cleaning; chemical may damage delicate fibers, so sweaters are never as soft again.
I suggest:
1.Hand wash with baby shampoo. Use sparingly and dissolve completely in cool lukewarm water. Press suds through the sweater gently; soak three to five minutes; rinse. Dry flat on a towel, away from radiators and direct sun.
2.Pills aren’t a sign of cheap cashmere but the result of ordinary friction. Comb them out with a boar-bristle brush, mow them down with a battery-powered sweater shaver, or smooth them with the Sweater Stone, which does for pill-ridden knits what pumice stones do for to rough skin.
3.Store items in separate bags so that if one is infested with moths-lured by perfumes and oils trapped in fibers-you won’t lose the entire collection.
