When Summer hits, parties, travelling and outdoor adventures might make life a bit tougher for your silk dress and linen shirt. We share a couple of our dirty little secrets to help you take better care of your clothes during the summer months.
Your swimsuit
It took you a while to find the perfect one, now you want to make sure it lasts you a few seasons. For this to happen, the cardinal rule of taking care of your swimsuit: rinse your bathing suit with cool tap water to remove any sea salt, sand or chlorine from the pool right after you take it off. Don't wash it too often as that would weaken the fabric and finish, but once the season is over or the time is right, hand wash it with cool water (not too hot to prevent fading or shrinking) and a tablespoon of liquid detergent. It's important not to twist your swimsuit even to wring it - let it air dry, laying it flat if needed.
Sunscreen or ice cream stain? gently rub your garment with our Natural Stain Remover and rinse before handwashing it with cool water.
Whiter whites
A topic we know quite a bit about (we are called BLANC after all) and that deserves a full blog post, frankly. The gist of it is: sort your whites away from everything else. It does sound too simple to even deserve a mention, but so many people take shortcuts and put a little darker item in with their whites (because it's been washed a few times). Please don't! if you want your whites to stay white, take time to sort your laundry loads into whites, colours and darks. Sorting is a full-blown section in our Atelier and is given a tremendous amount of attention from our experts - do the same at home and your whites will thank you for it. In the wise words of Martha Stewart (and the woman does know a fair bit about things like that): “The more you sort the laundry, the fresher your clothes”. A lot of people tell you to set your washing machine to hot to whiten your whites: here we feel that there is a lot you can do at 30°C before using hot cycles which use an incredible amount of energy and may damage the fibre of your clothes. Try adding a natural laundry bleach first, for instance.
Adding a natural “laundry booster” in the dispenser really helps, too. Baking soda, vinegar, borax, lemon juice and hydrogen peroxide all naturally whiten. Add ½ cup of any of these natural ingredients to each wash cycle and you should see very good results.
De-wrinkle your linen
So your linen shirt is totally wrinkled after the wash and you're not too sure about how to press it. With linen, you should press your garment on high heat and high steam before it has fully dried. If the garment is already dry, spray linen water on it first, or hang it in the bathroom while you take a shower as the steam will help prepare the fabric. Linen is a very lively fabric - think about your collars and cuffs but don't press too hard; your garment will look better for it.
Protect you silks
Silk wears beautifully during summer. Most silk garments should really be taken to your favourite natural cleaners, but here are some care instructions for those times when you really cannot make it into one of our stores.
Wash at home only if the care label allows hand wash. If so, place your garment in the sink and dampen it with cold water and a high quality delicates detergent. Air dry your item and hang it on a padded hanger in your closet. In doubt but still no time? why not book your first home collection & delivery online?
