As soon as you get home, take your dry-cleaned garments out of the plastic bag to allow the fabric to breathe freely and put the clothes on good quality hangers. Recycle the hangers from the cleaners.
Hang your trousers full-length, from the hem if you have the vertical space, using a sturdy hanger with the little clamps.
Keep knitwear folded on shelves, never hung on hangers to avoid those horrible little stretched triangles they create.
Folding leather items will create creases and wrinkles which you should never iron or steam out!
Roll your clothes into three sausages for packing to avoid creased clothes. Lay out your tops and dresses, one inside the other, with the most crushable fabrics on the outside and roll them into a sausage. Trousers and skirts go in the second sausage. Everything else goes in the third from swimwear, sarongs and pashminas in your wow colours of course! Turning jackets inside out will help avoid creases, but if space is limited, wear your jacket while travelling.
Don’t tumble dry your bras! Lie them flat to dry. Don’t stuff them in a drawer as bending the cups will damage them long term. Stack bras inside of each other like you see in the shops.
Make sure that you wash your garments as instructed on the label to preserve them for longer. Washing your coloured clothes inside-out will help maintain dark colours. Try not to wash your clothes needlessly and reduce trips to the dry cleaners to make clothes that need dry-cleaning last longer.
Wringing your swimsuits by twisting them and tumble drying them will damage the elasticity! Lie the swimsuit flat between towels, press and roll the water out and then let it dry flat.
Address spills and stains as soon as you can – If you spill or drop liquid or food on your clothes dab with soda water or iced water immediately to make sure that the stain does not set. Dab the stain instead of rubbing it to avoid spreading the stain or damaging the surface of the fabric and before washing, spray the area with a stain pre-treatment.
Always dress after you have put on your make up and done your hair to prevent lipstick, eyeshadow and hairspray ruining your clothes.
For further advice, visit House of Colour
About the Author / Gareth Hargreaves
Gareth looks after all editorial content on 50connect. He is the Swiss Army knife of content ideas and production.
