Published on : 29 September 20204 min reading time
Taking care of your clothes goes through several stages. Choosing good quality clothes, being vigilant about the washing machine and storing them properly in your wardrobe are essential steps if you want to preserve the beauty and appearance of your favourite clothes.
1. Choosing the right clothes
To keep your clothes looking good for longer, no miracle, you first have to choose them carefully. A beautiful material and a good visible quality are assets to make your clothes last over time. Make sure the finishes are beautiful (avoid seams that are not straight or buttons and details that don’t look well finished), also avoid materials that are too thin and will wear out faster. Beware that good quality does not always mean expensive or overpriced! You can pay a very expensive garment and only pay for the brand or on the contrary buy a garment at the right price for top quality. So be careful not to confuse brand and good quality, which is unfortunately not always the case.
As you will have understood, taking good care of your clothes means first of all buying them well.
2. Taking good care of them
Once the garment has been tried on and bought, it’s time to think about going to the machine. And that’s where it sometimes gets complicated. Very beautiful on a hanger, we can sometimes be disappointed with the result once the first wash is done. Either it wasn’t of good quality and the garment unfortunately paid for it in its first wash, or the washing conditions were not well respected.
In order to take care of your clothes, it is imperative that you read the washing labels on your garments. For example, they tell you the correct washing temperature and the recommended type of spin-drying.
To take care of your clothes, I advise you to always wash delicate fabrics at 30° maximum and with a low spin cycle. This way, the clothes are less fragile when washed. Also avoid using the electric dryer for delicate clothes and fine fabrics. There is a risk that they will be damaged and/or shrink.
However, if you want to take care of your clothes, you should still avoid using the dryer for the majority of them. Socks and jeans, on the other hand, are the two categories that you can put in the dryer without asking yourself any questions. The dryer allows the jeans to regain some of the elasticity lost through wear and as far as socks are concerned, you don’t take any great risks by putting them in the dryer (apart from the possible disappearance of one out of two).
To dry them optimally, I advise you to dry your clothes on a hanger. This way they will not have the ugly peg marks and will not deform as much. This will also help you to avoid ironing for some garments.
Taking care of your clothes also involves ironing. Make sure you follow the advice on the washing labels as well. Choose a lower temperature whenever possible. This will avoid ugly marks on more delicate fabrics. For these fabrics, you can also use the wipe-on-iron technique for optimal and safe ironing.
3. Put them away well
Once the selection and maintenance stage is over, the last step remains: storage. Depending on the wardrobe you have, you will need to manage the tidying up optimally. The ideal is to be able to bend most of your clothes to avoid creases but also to avoid crushing them and thus weakening them.
Ideally, you should be able to fold fine and delicate materials, dresses, tailored trousers and flowing trousers. Jeans, cotton T-shirts or hard material trousers can be folded.
Also be careful not to overload your wardrobes. This will not do your clothes any favours. Make sure that the batteries are neither too high nor too tight. The same goes for clothes on hangers. Make sure that your wardrobe is airy and that the hangers are not too tightly packed together. This will ensure that your clothes are stored neatly.
Finally, to keep your wardrobe fresh, think of lavender sachets to put in your dressing room. A must for a fresh scent and to give an air of Provence to your day.