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I f you’ve made your way here, you’ve likely decided to invest in fewer, better things. You probably also know that taking good care of them will keep your everyday luxuries around for a much longer time. So if you’ve ever wondered how to wash a sweater, whether or not to hang sweaters, how to fold or unshrink them, how to remove fuzz and pills, how to fix a snag…don’t worry: we’re here to help.
Essentially, any wool sweater — that is, any sweater knit from animal fibers, like lambswool, alpaca, merino, cashmere and mohair — requires different care from plant-based yarns and fabrics, like cotton and linen. So we chatted with a few Team TS members to get the lowdown: Lea Dochterman (Sweater Designer), Michelle Bing (Technical Designer, Men’s Knits and Sweaters) and Matt Stipano (Art Director and sweater aficionado).
Consider this Sweater Care 101: our most essential tips for ensuring your sweaters (and you, in them) look their absolute best for as long as possible.
First and foremost: when in doubt, read the care instructions on your garment. But generally speaking, the answer here is that you should only wash your sweaters when you really need to.
Some fibers, like merino, are odor-resistant, and many will freshen up on their own if you air them out for a day or two. Small stains can be removed with a spot treatment or by dabbing with seltzer.
I only dry clean things once a year, at home, to prevent any damage from the chemical process to the fibers of the yarn.
“The washing machine, even on the ‘hand wash’ setting, will almost certainly create too much agitation and can lead to shrinkage and more pilling.” — Michelle
First, turn it inside out. Then place it in a large bowl, clean bucket, or stoppered sink filled with cool water and a couple of drops of a gentle liquid detergent. Just swish and rinse, without rubbing, until it’s clean and soap free.
Next, lay the sweater between two towels, and gently press out excess water before laying it flat to dry — you never want to wring a sweater, and many sweaters will shrink if you tumble dry them.
First and foremost: when in doubt, read the care instructions on your garment. But generally speaking, the answer here is that you should only wash your sweaters when you really need to.
1. Fold in half and place the hanger loop at the armpit
2. Wrap the arms over the hanger's shoulder and tuck it underneath the hanger bar
1. Fold the bottom over the shoulder
2. Ready to hang
This is a super smart way of folding sweaters that prevents the shoulder sagging sadness that makes me crazy.
You can, of course, also fold a sweater the old-fashioned way to store in drawers or on shelves. Just lay it flat, face down. Fold the right sleeve straight across the shoulders towards the left sleeve. Repeat, folding the left sleeve across the right. Fold the right third of the sweater over to the center, and again repeat with the left third — both sides should slightly overlap down the center. Fold the bottom to the top, flip it over, and you’re done.
If you don’t have infinite closet space and you want to stow your heavy winter woolens to make room for lighter summer knits, you should take care to pack your clean, neatly folded sweaters properly. In order to avoid unpacking them next winter to find a box full of moldering, moth-eaten sweaters, just make sure you’re storing them when they’re completely dry, in breathable (but well-sealed) boxes. You can also pack them with a cedar block for good measure, to keep moths away.
We get it; things happen. At some point in your life, you will inevitably snag one of your sweaters — when it does happen, don’t despair. It can be hard to fix loose strings, but not impossible.
First: never, ever cut the threads. The nature of knitting (where a single string of yarn often runs throughout a sweater) means you’re just as likely to cause it to unravel further. A basic fix at home involves poking or threading the snag through so it’s on the inside of the garment.
If you’re a knitter yourself, you can also darn small holes and snags back together. Otherwise, try looking for a tailor who specializes in reweaving before throwing in the towel.
No matter how careful you are with your wool sweaters, they will pill. Pilling happens when the fibers of a sweater break and ball up with repeated wear and friction; shorter, un-twisted fibers are more likely to pill than longer, twisted ones. If you want to keep your sweaters looking pristine, don’t just pluck off the pills. Invest in a sweater razor, stone or comb instead.
Razors are very easy to use and efficient. Stones are great at doing an even more thorough job than razors and are well-suited to rugged sweaters. Combs are gentler than both and best suited for fine, delicate knits like cashmere, but are a more time-intensive choice (the teeth need to be cleaned out fairly often during de-pilling).
These items will all come with instructions on their use, but whichever you’re using, just gently run them over your sweater to remove the pills without causing further breakage.
FYI: you really only need to do this for cashmere and lambswool and so on…I wouldn’t worry about it for alpaca or mohair or anything fuzzy. Clean them, but don’t shave them.
When we spoke to Matt, one memory stood out: “I remember the first time I bought a merino cardigan, as a 19-year-old, when cardigans weren’t everywhere yet. My mom washed it by accident and it broke my heart when it came out shrunk...cause I’d saved my own money and bought it myself from Banana Republic, which was the height of luxury at the time, and she shrunk it on me. Never again.”
Spare yourself Matt’s childhood tragedy with one solid rule of thumb: just don’t run your wool sweaters through the washer or dryer. However, if the unthinkable has occurred, Lea (our sweater designer) recommends giving the following steps a try to un-shrink your wool sweater.
“Around the first weekend of May every year, I dry clean my sweaters at home. There are at-home dry cleaning kits you can use — you turn all your sweaters inside out (ideally separated by light and dark), put them in the bag with the cleaning cloths they provide, throw it in the dryer on medium for 30 minutes and they come out dry-cleaned.
“Then I take them out of the bag, turn them right side in, lay them flat and de-pill them. A couple of years ago I got an electric sweater shaver for Christmas, which is what I use; I run it against the fabric in even strokes, going sleeve by sleeve, then the body. I flip it over and repeat.
“After, I fold them all flat, using a magazine to shape them all, and store them in bins. I have cedar blocks that I store them with, which I sand beforehand so they’re fresh. I do that once a year and never have any issues [with moths].”
