Lingerie care, made simple.
We want the pieces you’ve selected for yourself to last as long as possible, and advise against putting any bras in the washing machine or dryer. Even the gentlest setting, with no agitator, can shorten the lifespan of your bras, and heat is the most powerful enemy of elastics. Think of hand-washing as insurance for your purchase – it’s designed to reduce the ways your items may be exposed to damaging effects to ensure that you are able to enjoy each piece as long as possible.
We’ve put together the following resources to help simplify and demystify lingerie care, since, in the moment, we sometimes struggle to decipher the little pictures on the tags. GINETEX provides a clear symbol dictionary of the generally-accepted laundry-care symbols for easy reference here.
As a general rule: we recommend cool or tepid water for all delicates – remembering that heat is generally the enemy of elastic fibers. Eco-friendly detergents are amazing to use with your lingerie collection, as they will be both gentler on the fibers, and gentler to your skin and the earth. Small amounts are key here – we’re trained to think that lots of suds = cleaner – but that isn’t necessarily the case. More suds = more soap to rinse out, which means more water usage. Being environmentally sensitive isn’t the only reason to wash your intimates by hand – but, done right, a handwash load in the sink will use vastly less water than a delicate cycle in your washing machine.
Washing small loads of like-colored items together in the sink or a basin is ideal – one of our bra fitters swears by a popcorn bowl she purchased at a Dollar Store. She goes a step further, and fills it with the cold and cool water while she starts her shower – avoiding some water-waste, and killing two birds with one stone. She gives the items a quick scrub for any deodorant residue, lets them soak, then drains and rinses, and hangs them up to dry. By doing little bits of handwash laundry at a time, you never let too much pile up – and keep things in a comfortable rotation.
We recommend products from Soak and The Laundress – and stock them in both locations. For more information from Katie and Lauren – two of our garment-care gurus – jump over to the blog.
We want washing your delicates to be an easy and maintainable practice for you – because there is nothing worse than the accidental too-early demise of a favorite bra or pair of panties. We’re happy to answer any care questions you may have – feel free to ask an employee during your next visit, or reach out to us via the contact form here.