Caring for Your Orwell + Austen Piece
Caring for your Orwell + Austen piece
Buying ethically and sustainably is an incredibly important and effective way of slowing fashion down; doing so receives a lot of attention, and rightly so. However, the life of garments once in our hands has the potential to have an even greater impact, socially and environmentally. By caring for our clothes just a little extra, we can reduce their carbon footprint by as much as 30%. In the spirit of loving our clothes as much as possible, here is a quick guide to looking after your Orwell + Austen pieces for years to come.
Myth-Busting: Pilling & Bobbling
We all know the story: you buy a new sweater and it is beautifully smooth and supple, yet, a number of wears later, bobbling has seemingly appeared out of nowhere. But what actually causes this? Bobbling, also known as pilling, is a result of the fabric rubbing against itself or another surface; this is why it is more commonly found on the sleeves or sides of your sweater.
There is the very common misconception that this indicates a lesser quality of cashmere. However, pilling and bobbling, especially on the first few wears, is normal for any cashmere piece. Pilling can occur on any cashmere sweater, regardless of the yarn quality, with more expensive pieces not being any less prone to pilling. With recycled cashmere and cashmere blends, an initial pilling is more common due to the differing fibre lengths when mixing yarns.
What can I do about pilling?
A gentle removal with a cashmere comb should remove any initial pilling. We also recommend that you turn your sweater inside-out when washing in order to reduce external rubbing while washing.
How to wash your piece
Either a gentle hand or machine wash (on a delicate cycle) works best when washing one of our sweaters. It is also worth making sure that you use a wool detergent - enzymes in normal washing detergent can damage the cashmere and wool fibres, and lead to small holes in the sweater.
After washing, we recommend laying the piece flat to air dry; if you hang the piece then it is likely to stretch and lose its shape. One key thing to remember is to never put your pieces in the tumble dryer, unless you are trying to shrink it to a kid's size version of your most loved piece!
Storing your piece
Moths love cashmere and fine wool and this can be hugely problematic when your jumper is tucked away. When you’re not wearing your piece, we recommend you steam and store it in a vacuum pack bag - this will kill any moth larvae that might be ready to make a meal of your sweater! Another tip when not wearing your piece as regularly (like in the summer months) is to store your sweater in a waterproof bag in your freezer. As strange as this may sound, this will also kill any moth larvae.
If you don’t have a vacuum pack bag you can keep the piece in your wardrobe, but we recommend either spraying your piece regularly with lavender water or placing some cedarwood sachets in your wardrobe - moths hate both lavender and cedarwood.
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We hope that this has somewhat broken down the cashmere caring process for you. If you have any further questions, do not hesitate to drop us an email or message. We always love hearing from you!
