LINGERIE CARE

Caring for Your Lingerie

Lingerie is manufactured in many different fabrics, some that are delicate and some that are less delicate to care for. We will cover some of the different varieties of fabrics that you may own and point out their recommended care shortly.

First we would like to point out the one tip to keep in mind is if your intimate apparel is delicate in nature, we suggest that the garment is washed by hand. After it has been washed, never try to wring the garment to remove any access water from it. Instead just squeeze the garment gently to remove some of the water and then lay it down flat on a soft towel to air dry or on a plastic hanger.

If the intimate apparel garments you are ready to wash are a little less delicate and you feel better washing them in a washing machine, we suggest that you place them in a garment bag to protect them during the wash cycle. Always separate your dark and light intimate garments and wash them in separate loads. We highly recommend that you secure all buttons, clasps and zippers before washing, so as to avoid any garment from damaging another lingerie garment during the spin cycle. Before you place your lingerie garments in the garment bag turn them inside out and if any garment has a stain on it never use bleach. Use a delicate stain remover like Resolve Stain Stick by Spray n Wash or something similar. When you are set to start the wash cycle use a mild soap detergent and set the washing machine on the delicate cycle.

With so many different fabrics used in lingerie designer collections, each fabric needs to be cared for a little differently. Here are some common fabrics that you may come across. You should always read the care instructions on the garments label so that the lingerie garment is cared for properly.

ACRYLIC – These intimate apparel garments can we washed by hand or in a washing machine if they are less delicate, or if you prefer you can have them dry cleaned. If you decide to machine wash them, make sure that you use warm water and machine dry at a low temperature. If the garments are delicate in nature then hand wash them in warm water with a mild soap detergent, gently squeeze out the water without wringing the garment and air dry on a plastic hanger.

COTTON – Intimate apparel made out of cotton is very easy to wash, since cotton washes well in hot as well as cold water cycles. You may use any good detergent to wash cotton garments. Cotton however is known to wrinkle during any wash cycle, so you need to be ready to iron your lingerie cotton garments to keep them looking their very best. If you place your cotton garments in a dryer you may find that the garment may shrink if the fabric is not already pre-shrunk, so check with the label on the garment.

LINEN – With linen you will need to read the label instructions, because some linen garments will say “Dry Clean Only” on the label. If the linen garment you are washing does not need to be dry cleaned, then keep in mind that just like cotton the linen garment may need to be ironed if the fabric is not crease resistant.

NYLON – This fabric is fairly easy to launder, since generally speaking nylon intimates may be machine washed, using warm water and machine dried at low temperatures. If the garment label suggests that you iron the fabric, then use a warm iron.

POLYESTER – This fabric may generally be machine washed in warm water and machine dried at low temperatures. Just like nylon if the label requires you to iron the garment, then use a warm iron.

RAYON – Generally rayon intimate apparel needs to be Dry Cleaned Only, however if the label suggests otherwise, then you may hand wash or machine wash the garment in cold to lukewarm water. If hand washing squeeze the water out gently without wringing the garment, and hang out to air-dry on a plastic hanger. You may use a cool iron to bring rayon garments looking their very best.

SILK – This fabric is very delicate and one must read the label for care instructions. Almost all silk intimate apparel garments need to be Dry Cleaned Only. If you have a silk garment that states on the label that it may be laundered, then make sure that you hand wash in a mild soap in lukewarm water and air dry. Silk should never have chlorine bleach applied to it.

SPANDEX – This fabric is fairly easy to care for. You may machine or hand wash spandex and rinse well when done. To machine dry spandex use a low temperature setting, and if you hand wash it then just let it drip dry. If the label calls for ironing use a low iron temperature setting.