How To Look After Your Knitwear

Hello! As we’re getting deep into a winter that’s not going anywhere for a while (sigh). I thought I’d share some tips on how to look after those knitwear pieces you’re going to be living in so they can last longer and you can keep wearing them every year.

Knowing how to clean those treasured knits can be confusing right? There’s usually info on the label but sometimes that can be tricky to understand…

If you want to be safe, hand washing inside out is good though we don’t always have the time for that. You can also use the hand-wash or delicate setting on your machine and make sure not to tumble dry them! I hear that it’s good to avoid using fabric softeners too as they could make the fabrics soft and and susceptible to bobbling.

When you hang your jumper to dry on a hanger, they get full of heavy water that drags the whole garment down and stretches the fabric. You don’t want that! It’s best to dry your knitwear flat. I do this by laying them across my clothes horse. If you only have one clothes horse this usually means you can only do a couple jumpers at a time.

If you need lots of jumpers at once you could hang those extras from your doorways across two hangers. You do this by laying your knit flat across them both like it’s reclining on a deck chair sipping cocktails. Another option is to lay a towel down somewhere and dry your knitwear flat on it.

Recently, more companies are starting to think about how the fast fashion they create is impacting the environment. Making things that people can afford is great but with the quality not being as good as it if it were a luxury piece, it can be hard to keep those items in the best shape forever. 

Many brands are aware that people tend to throw away those worn out clothes into landfill and are trying to incentivise us to recycle them. Have a browse on your favourite brand’s websites and see what schemes they offer.

H&M have a recycling scheme where you can give them any unloved clothes/textiles like those jumpers that you’ve shrunk, stained or accidentally ripped (cough cough). They’ll recycle them for you and give you a thank you voucher that you can use towards your next purchase. Win win! You can also read their tips on how to look after clothes and shoes too here.

Zara have also started a repair, buying and selling platform where you can either have them fix things for you or sell them on to someone else who might take that knit and love it in their own way.

Speaking of selling old clothes, I’m a big fan of platforms like Vinted, Depop and Ebay. Not only have you made a profit, room for better clothes in your wardrobe and helped someone else buy cheaper preloved clothes, you have also saved that piece from the bin. 

Someone crafty could take that cardigan and give it a whole new lease of life. Back when I was at uni, before preloved was such a thing, I used to buy things from charity shops to play with. Better than buying a white t-shirt from Primark to cut up and cheaper than having to commute into London to shop. Also cheaper than buying expensive fabric with my limited student budget.

As a Personal Stylist, I like to not only introduce people to new clothes and brands but also help them love the ones they already own. On a Wardrobe Edit with me, I take what I know about you (perhaps we’ve had a Colour & Body Analysis first) and use my knowledge to help you.

If this sounds like something you’d benefit from book a FREE discovery call with me and let’s have a chat about what I can do for you 🙂