How to properly care for and preserve cashmere
How to wash, dry and store cashmere without harming it: wool cycle at 15 degrees, dry flat, store folded, plus answers to the most common questions.
Fashion
Cashmere has a reputation for being delicate. In truth, the opposite holds: a well made piece forgives more than most cotton shirts, once you know a few principles. The most important ones have less to do with water than with air, time and the way you store your favourite pieces.
Few questions come up in the showroom as often as this one: can the jumper go in the machine? The short answer is yes. The longer one is below.
Why good cashmere needs less care than its reputation suggests
The difference is settled long before the first wash, at the level of the fibre. For our knitwear we use exclusively long staple cashmere in a 2/28 count. Long fibres can be twisted more firmly and stay inside the yarn instead of working their way out under friction. That working out is precisely what produces pills on cheaper goods after a few weeks.
Short staple goods often feel similar in the shop because they are heavily milled. The difference only shows in the third winter. Anyone who has owned a piece that still looks new after years understands why our cashmere collection sits where it sits in price.
Washing: cool, brief and with the right detergent
Cashmere is a hair and behaves like one. It likes lukewarm water, short treatment and no aggression. What harms it is not the machine as such, but heat, prolonged movement in water and the wrong chemistry.
In the washing machine
Choose the wool cycle at 15 to a maximum of 30 degrees with a detergent for delicates. Turn the piece inside out and put it in a mesh bag so it cannot rub against the zips of other garments. Switch the spin cycle off, or set it to no more than 400 revolutions.
Many people are surprised by the result. The fibre swells slightly in cold water and settles more densely afterwards. The piece comes out of the machine softer than it went in.
By hand
Dissolve a little detergent for delicates in lukewarm water, lay the piece in and leave it for ten minutes. Press it through gently, without rubbing or scrubbing. Rinse with clear water and press the water out carefully, never wring.
What does not belong in the water
Fabric softener settles as a film on the fibre and removes exactly the loft you paid for.
Regular detergent contains enzymes that break down protein. Cashmere is protein.
Bleach, and anything that brightens with oxygen, attacks the scale layer of the hair.
Drying and reshaping
Lay the wet piece flat on a dry towel, roll both up loosely and press the roll. Most of the water leaves the knit that way, without you pulling at it. Then lay the piece flat on a fresh towel and shape it: shoulders straight, cuffs and hem back to their original width.
What to avoid is the hanger. Wet knitwear cannot carry its own weight and stretches at the shoulders, irreversibly. Radiators and direct sun are a bad idea for the same reason as hot water. Once the piece is dry, give it a burst of steam from ten centimetres away without touching it. It will look new again.
Between wears, air helps more than water
The most common cause of prematurely tired knitwear is not too little care but too much washing. Cashmere is self cleaning: the fibre releases odours and moisture on its own, given the chance.
After three or four wears, hang a piece out in fresh air for a day, in the shade rather than in full sun. In most cases that makes the wash unnecessary. Washing two or three times a season is entirely sufficient for a regularly worn piece.
Pilling: where it comes from and how it goes
Even the best cashmere pills where it rubs: at the strap of a shoulder bag, on the inside of the upper arms, against a car seat. That is not a fault, it is physics. With long staple yarn it largely stops after the first few weeks, because the few loose fibre ends are then out.
Do not pluck the pills off, you will pull a whole stitch with them. Lay the piece flat instead and run a cashmere comb or a fabric shaver over it in one direction. On a chunky piece such as the Dolci Cashmere Jumper Quartz, work along the direction of the cable pattern.
Storing, especially over the summer
Two rules, no more. First: store folded, never hanging. A cashmere jumper on a rail loses its shoulder line within a season. Second: only store it clean. Moths are not interested in wool as such, but in skin flakes and traces of perspiration in it. A piece that goes into the wardrobe washed is of no interest to them.
For the summer break, pack your knitwear in a cotton bag rather than plastic, which traps moisture. Cedar wood or a lavender sachet next to it keeps moths away without touching the fibres. Fold large pieces such as the Garda Cashmere Poncho loosely and with as few edges as possible, so no permanent creases form.
Five things you can skip
Dry cleaning as a matter of routine. Once a season is fine, more often and the solvent dries the fibre out.
The tumble dryer, even on the gentle setting. Heat and movement together are exactly the combination that felts wool.
Stain remover applied directly to the fibre. Dab with lukewarm water instead, working from the outside in.
Ironing with pressure. Steam without contact achieves the same without flattening the knit.
The hanger in the wardrobe, in any season.
Frequently asked questions
Can cashmere go in the washing machine?
Yes. Wool cycle at 15 to 30 degrees, detergent for delicates, spin off or at no more than 400 revolutions, the piece inside out and in a mesh bag. What matters is the low temperature and the short movement in water, not the question of hand or machine.
How often should I wash a cashmere jumper?
Two or three times a season is enough with regular wear. In between, hanging the piece out in fresh air for a day after three or four wears is sufficient. The fibre largely cleans itself.
What should I do about pills in cashmere?
Do not pluck them. Lay the piece flat and run a cashmere comb or fabric shaver over it in one direction. With long staple cashmere, pilling drops off markedly after the first few weeks.
How do I store cashmere over the summer?
Washed, folded and in a cotton bag, never hanging and never in plastic. Cedar wood or lavender nearby keeps moths away. Moths respond to skin flakes and perspiration, so a cleanly stored piece is of no interest to them.
Can cashmere go in the tumble dryer?
No, not even on the gentle setting. Heat and mechanical movement together felt the fibre, and that cannot be undone. Dry flat on a towel and steam it afterwards from a distance.
If you have a piece you are unsure about, bring it in. We will look at it in the showroom and tell you what can still be saved. More about where our yarns come from, and why we produce in Italy, is on our about page.
