Cotton slacks, shirts, polos and sweaters
Cotton is one of the most widely used natural fibers. This is due to several reasons. For example, cotton is soft, easy to wash, hard wearing, moisture absorbent and affordable. The disadvantage is that cotton is rather sensitive to wrinkles. With a few simple tips you can make sure that your cotton clothes stay beautiful for longer.
Once a month, run an empty washing machine on the highest program, with baking soda. This cleans the hoses and drum preventing weird smells in the clothes.
When you wash new cotton clothes, they may shed color. Therefore, wash the new clothes separately the first few times. To check colorfastness, rub an inconspicuous part of the fabric with a wet, white cloth. If any dye remains on the cloth, the fabric does not hold its color. You will also keep your clothes looking better if you use a detergent without bleach. Wash them with a fine detergent and iron them inside-out at a low temperature.
To get the best color retention, it’s best to turn the clothes inside out and treat them with a liquid and color-preserving detergent. Spin dry as briefly as possible, this is better for the fibers. Dry crocheted or knitted cotton garments flat, lying down. This will keep the garments in shape.
You can add a color catcher cloth with your laundry, preventing the colors from leaking or transferring color to other garments.
Cotton has the property that it can shrink during the first wash unless it has been pre-washed (most Suitable garments are pre-washed). Therefore, do not set the temperature higher than 40 °C / 104 °F, in case of stains. Without stains, 30 °C / 86 °F is hot enough. After the wash cycle, it is best to take out the clothes immediately and hang them on the washing line.
Cotton clothing can become faded if you let it dry in bright sunlight. So use a place with a little more shade. This will prevent your clothes from losing their color.
Wash white, cotton clothing at least at 40 degrees celsius or 104 Fahrenheit. Wash printed, colored, or knitted cotton fabrics and tricots at 30°C / 86°F or 40°C / 104°F. As said, it is wise to wash new cotton clothing first at 30 to prevent shrinkage. The clothing can be put in the washing machine without detergent for the first time if it has not yet been worn.
A clothes dryer works great for saving time but has the disadvantage that the products can come out wrinkled and even shrunk or discolored. In addition, it causes more wear and tears on the clothes. A better solution is to hang your laundry wet, preferably on a plastic hanger; this is good for the environment and your clothes, and it saves a lot of effort with ironing.
Woolen suits and blazers
To ensure the quality of your woolen suit, you should hang your suit, without the buttons closed, neatly on a sturdy coat hanger. The suit should be cleaned by the dry cleaner who will also return the skirting and pleat in the pants.
Here are a few tips to reduce dry cleaning costs.
- First, it is absolutely advisable to buy a second pair of pants when you buy your suit. After all, you generally don’t wear the jacket as frequently as the pants. The pants therefore get dirty quicker and wear out considerably faster.
- You can also hang up your suit in the bathroom after a shower; the steam released during a shower is good for your suit.
- It is also advisable to air the costume in the fresh air from time to time to diminish dirty smells.
Woolen Sweaters
Several woolen sweaters at Suitable are made of 100% wool. Of course, these sweaters consist of different qualities ranging from thick (shetland wool) to slightly thinner (lambswool) to super-thin (merino wool). Although more and more woolen sweaters can be machine washed, they can still be harmful to the sweater.
To make sure your sweater stays beautiful as long as possible, we recommend hanging it out in the fresh air. Strange smells are not absorbed by the wool fibers but remain on the fabric. By hanging the sweaters on a hanger, these odors will disappear by themselves. Optionally, the wool sweater can be hung in the steam of the bathroom, then these odors also disappear. Make sure the wool sweater is never washed in cold water, it can make the sweater shrink.
Suppose you do choose to wash your sweater. In that case, it is essential to make sure that you use a special wool wash program and set the washing machine to the correct (low temperature), preferably in a laundry bag designed specifically for wool washing. Fill the machine to a maximum of ¼. Definitely do not wash wool warmer than 30 degrees, as you can be sure it will shrink. Set the spin button to the highest setting, and do not spin for more than a minute. It is essential to dry a wool sweater lying down, preferably on top of a towel. If you hang a wet wool sweater, there is a good chance that the sweater will lose its shape.
Another way to wash a wool sweater is to gently hand wash the sweater. If you wash the sweater by hand, gently massage the suds through the garment. So don’t rub or wring because that causes felting and shrinking. Rinse the sweater afterwards at the same temperature; a temperature difference can cause the sweater to shrink.
Wool sweaters are often the target of moths that can damage the sweater beyond repair. Therefore, we recommend putting a scented bar of soap (e.g., lavender-scented) in the closet in the winter and storing wool sweaters in a garment bag or sealed container with some mothballs/paper in the summer.
Silk ties
A silk tie remains a fragile accessory but a few simple tricks will keep it in optimal shape. First of all, the best way to treat a wrinkled tie is to carefully place a clean damp tea towel (not too wet) on the wrinkled tie and gently iron it with a hot iron, just for a few seconds. When ironing a tie it is important to iron the backside, this way the visible front side will stay beautiful the longest.
We also recommend that you unbutton your tie after each wear and store it hanging on a tie rack.
Stain Removal Tips
In general, two rules are important:
- Be quick! The moment have a stain in your clothing, it is important to take action as soon as possible.
- Never rub the stain! This makes it larger and penetrates deeper into the fabric. In addition, rubbing causes rings. Instead, try to gently dab with a damp cloth.
We recommend that you first remove the stain by absorbing or dabbing it with a kitchen towel, for example. Then you can use lukewarm water with a drop of detergent to softly dab the stain with possibly a towel under the garment.
If all this was to no avail it is time for a dry cleaner or an alternative solution. Before treating the colored fabric, one should try these options in an inconspicuous place (in the hem, on the inside facing) this way you can see if the fabric is discolored by the treatment method.
Finally, here are a few tips and tricks to best remove specific stains.
Ballpoint pen ink: Absorb with alcohol, but pay close attention to the material’s color fastness. Lemon juice may also provide a solution.
Beer: Just wash.
Blood: Rinse with lukewarm saltwater as soon as possible, usually they are removed completely. Pre-wash older stains in an “organic” detergent, soak them for a while, and then do the regular laundry treatment.
Chocolate: Scrape away as much as possible with the blunt side of a knife without smearing. Rinse thoroughly with lukewarm water, lubricate with liquid detergent and rinse again. For wool and silk: rinse well with benzene and wash again.
Grass: Moisten with a solution of lactic acid and water or with alcohol, dab with soapy water, then wash. Then rub with some detergent and immediately wash in the washing machine.
Resin: Treat boiling and colorfast fabrics with white spirit, benzene, alcohol, or acetone, and then wash. For delicate fabrics, we recommend scratching off the resin and treating it with a stain remover. If circles appear, it is best to wash the garment in the washing machine.
Ink: dab alternately with alcohol and vinegar and then in the washing machine. On wool and silk: Dab the stain with lukewarm water and lemon juice, methyl alcohol, or a solution of equal parts ammonia and white vinegar. You can also use this method on white cotton.
Candle wax: Loosen the wax and iron out the remaining residue between two paper handkerchiefs (kitchen roll paper). The heat will melt the candle wax and be absorbed by the handkerchiefs. Treat the Remaining stains with dish soap and lukewarm water to degrease the fabric and wash directly in the washing machine.
Chewing gum: Wipe off immediately with ice cubes or treat with a special stain remover that dissolves chewing gum. You can best treat old stains with stain remover.
Coffee: Rinse thoroughly with warm water immediately—dab with spring water to prevent rings. On wool and silk: dab with water and liquid detergent and wash as soon as possible.
Copper polish: Dab with soapy water and vinegar. Then simply put it in the washing machine.
Lipstick: Dab with alcohol and then wash with liquid detergent.
Glue: Treat with acetone a few times (do not use acetone with acetate and chlorine fibers, however). Dab with a cotton swab until the stain is gone, then wash.
Milk: Rinse milk stains immediately in lukewarm water. Do not use hot water, as the milk will stick to the fabric. Before washing, you can soak the fabric in soapy water. On synthetic fabric: dab the stain with lukewarm water and detergent. On wool and silk: dab the stain with diluted vinegar. On white cotton or other white fabric: dab the stain with 90° alcohol or bleach white fabric with 3% hydroperoxide (1 part to 6 parts water). For all fabrics, wash in the washing machine immediately afterward.
Nail polish: Use nail polish remover without acetone, this can damage the clothing.
Perfume: Treat boiling and colorfast fabrics with alcohol. Dab materials that need to be washed carefully with warm glycerine. In both cases, wash in the washing machine afterwards.
Red wine: Absorb immediately with paper towels. Then wash. Dabbing with white wine will also help quite a bit. Salt on the wine absorbs, then rinse and machine wash.
Rust: Remove with special ‘rust remover’ see the instructions. Then rinse cold and wash.
Soot: Wet the fabric well and soak in liquid detergent. Roll it up and leave it for half a day. Then wash as normal. If necessary, carefully vacuum the soot and then wash immediately.
Shoe polish: Dab with turpentine and benzene. Then put in the washing machine.
Tar: Coat the stain with butter or margarine, then have dry cleaning done by the dry cleaner.
Tea: Rinse the garments thoroughly with warm water immediately. Soak them in lukewarm soapy water if necessary. On wool and silk: dab with water and liquid detergent. Dab with lemon juice, the acid will dissolve the stain. Rinse well with lukewarm water and wash.
Tomato puree or juice: Rinse with lukewarm water, if necessary, leave in lukewarm ‘organic’ detergent for a few hours. Then rinse and wash as usual.
Perspiration: Wash. Fabrics that need to be washed carefully should be dabbed with vinegar or alcohol. This will often remove the most significant stains.
Paint: Dab directly with turpentine, benzene or thinner on an absorbent surface. Then you can wash the clothes in the washing machine.
Grease: Dab cooking and colorfast fabrics with benzene and then wash. Materials that need careful washing to treat with stain paste and brush it off after a few hours. Treat old grease stains with special stain water.
Fruits: Rinse thoroughly in lukewarm water and gently dab the stain with lemon juice. Never use soap as a first resort to remove fruit stains. Soap might react with the fruit stain, causing dark, bluish stains. On wool and silk: dab with lemon juice, then rinse with water.
White wine: Rinse immediately with cold water and then wash.
Ice cream: Wash with lukewarm water. If necessary, treat with a stain remover.
For all stains, the following applies: dab, never rub. This damages the top layer of the material.
ironing
Nobody likes it, but it has to be done anyway: ironing. How do you iron your clothes as quickly and efficiently as possible and how do you avoid annoying edges, folds and prints?
- You should iron all garments inside out.
- Highly dry garments should be sprinkled with water. You can rol them up and leave them in a plastic bag for an hour. Or, use a special spray instead. Only then do the ironing.
- Always pay attention to the care label to know at what temperature you should set the iron. As a rule, linen should be as hot as possible, cotton as hot, and you should iron delicate fabrics (such as silk and wool) at a lukewarm temperature.
- Always iron cotton pants inside out (preferably hang them up by the legs immediately after washing, preventing ironing problems).
- When ironing a shirt, start with the shoulder area by placing the one of the shoulder areas over the round part of the ironing board. It is best to iron the button row from the back.
- It is better to put the iron upright (on the back) instead of putting it on a metal rack. Metal draws the heat away from your iron, cooling it down when you don’t want too.
- Pressing is a method of normal ironing to get rid of a stubborn wrinkle or to make a nice crease. One uses a wet, damp cloth on the material to be ironed. Set the iron to its hottest setting. One presses briefly (4 to 6 seconds) on the wet cloth and repeats the phase at intervals if necessary (see also the treatment of silk ties)
- Lay a wet cloth on the clothing, iron over it, and repeat the procedure with brown paper. The fabric will become firmer (stay in shape) and look like a dry cleaner has treated it.
- When ironing pleats, it is a good idea to place a piece of cardboard under the fabric to avoid accidentally leaving an imprint of the iron.
- In many areas, calc holding water might be a problem. Because many irons are equipped with steam blowers, it is advisable to use spring water or filtered water to prevent the calcification of the iron. After a while, the calcification can start to give off white or brown marks on your clothes, and you don’t want this.
- Try standing on a pillow while ironing. You will notice that the work goes faster. This is because the cushion takes away the tension in the back and legs.
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Care label
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On the inside of each garment is a care label. Symbols on the care label indicate the best way to clean a garment. The correct cleaning method has to do with the material of the garment.
The first symbol on a care label is the washtub, this means that you can wash the clothes according to a regular washing program.
The triangle symbols on the care label indicate any special treatment of the garment. The triangles represent the ways in which you can bleach the clothing.
The iron symbols indicate whether and at what temperature you can iron the garment. A cross means that you should not iron the fabric.
The dots refer to the points to the different heat settings on the control dial of your iron.
