Hello! We put together a little blog with recommendations and tips on how to keep your apparel looking good for a long time.
First - let’s talk about dryers (and, to a lesser degree, washing machines):
Dryers are one of those things I never gave much thought to until I became concerned with the longevity of my wardrobe in general - while very convenient, dryers can take a massive toll on your clothing over time.
Broadly speaking, agitation from both the washer and dryer will degrade fabric over time. This won’t necessarily look like your clothing becoming thinner or seams breaking though - more likely what you’ll experience is the fibers at the top of the garment becoming microscopically frayed and worn, causing your garment to look older and ‘duller’. Dyed vs printed clothing can play a huge part in how noticeable this is as well: dyed fibers, as long as they are colorfast, tend to fade slower than printed apparel since the color is saturated all the way through. With printed apparel, the ink functions kind of like a tattoo - it sits in the upper layers of the fiber, which makes any damage to this area especially visible.
Polyester fabrics tend to have better resistance against degradation over time, which is a small reason why so much printed apparel is made with it. Natural fibers need a gentler hand to remain looking fresh! Much like with dyed hair, high heat, harsh detergents and frequent washing (and chlorinated water, if you have that!) can also fade ink/dye prematurely.
With this in mind, our recommended care instructions are: hand wash cold with a smaller amount of mild detergent, and hang or lay flat to dry. Avoid wringing out or treating fabrics too roughly while they are wet. If you cannot hand wash, we recommend flipping any garment inside out, placing it in a garment bag, and washing cold with low spin + hang drying. Avoid overfilling your washing machine or washing the garments with anything that has rough zippers/detailing. Do not use detergents with bleach.
Avoiding overwashing natural fibers helps keep them looking/feeling good for longer as well! Spot cleaning or just airing out your garments (in the shade, not in direct strong sunlight) can go a long way.
We recommend avoiding heat as much as possible, to avoid fading and shrinkage.
We hope this guide helps with care! We do want to note that while this can be a little daunting, these are also just the 'best practices' and many of our customers over the years have been putting their printed apparel in their washer with no negative consequences. It's hard to account for every variable (how much agitation your machine produces, how chlorinated your water is, etc.) so we try to advise on the safest route to keeping your clothing clean and looking good.
OUTERWEAR/EMBROIDERED GARMENTS
Spot clean as needed. If a deeper clean is needed, hand wash cold and hang/lay flat to dry. If using a washing machine, flip inside out to protect embroidery and use low spin. High agitation or allowing other clothing to rub against the embroidery in the wash can cause embroidery threads to fray or become damaged.
PRINTED COTTON
(this includes: button downs, trousers, tees, joggers, etc.)
If you dont want to hand wash, our standard instructions of flipping the garment inside out, washing cold with low spin, and hang drying work well for our printed cotton apparel! Avoid heat for printed apparel.
These care instructions are good for the screenprinted tees as well!
LINEN/COTTON-LINEN BLEND
With anything containing linen, we strongly recommend hand washing as it is the best way to preserve the fabric and any embroidered detailing it may have. Linen can react very poorly to repeated agitation/friction during washing. do NOT put linen in the dryer.
While i have personally tested washing my printed linen items in my washing machine (cold, small amount of detergent, low spin + hang drying) and the print did not fade at all, i cannot account for every variable in someone else's home. This is why hand washing is the recommended course here!
PRINTED TENCEL:
(this includes the: skirts, bandanas, pillow covers, culottes)
Tencel is incredibly soft and pleasant against the skin, and a truly fantastic fabric all around. However, printed tencel needs some extra consideration to keep it looking good for a long time to come! (Also, in general, tencel could be considered a fairly delicate fabric as far as preserving color/texture goes!)
The best way to care for tencel would be to avoid agitation as much as possible - which means hand washing with cool water, a mild detergent and hang drying. If you can follow this care for the tencel, we really really recommend doing so!
