Washing
How often can cashmere be washed?
The frequency and intensity with which you wear your favorite item determines how often it should be washed. A good guideline is to wash it after about four wears. Until this point, it is usually sufficient to hang the item of clothing outside to air out overnight. A little Allude Refresher can also help freshen it up. However, keep in mind that Kashmir needs time to rest. Even if it's your favorite sweater, give it 24 hours to recover.
Chemical cleaning
All cashmere items should never be dry cleaned. A normal wash with our cashmere detergent is perfect for removing most stains
Do I have to use a special detergent?
Treat your cashmere sweater like your own hair. I recommend liquid laundry detergent or a mild hair shampoo. In my opinion, normal mild detergent is not gentle enough. It has an alkaline effect, removes fat and can cause holes. Color cleaners contain protein-soluble enzymes that attack fine hair. Special cashmere soaps are ideal. For Allude, in cooperation with Speick Naturkosmetik, I have developed a cashmere care series that you can use for your favorite cashmere items. It is based on purely organic ingredients. The Allude Wash detergent not only washes the fabric, but also cares for the cashmere hair in a particularly gentle way. At the same time, it is gentle on the skin and noticeably soft. A fine composition of essential oils has been added to Allude Wash to give the laundry a naturally light scent.
Fabric softener
Fabric softener is unsuitable for cashmere! The ingredients smooth the surface structures and the clothing becomes worn out. If you want to do something good for your cashmere piece, then use a commercially available hair treatment or our Allude Condition conditioner. It is added to the wash cycle after every tenth wash. This extra portion of care makes the sweater cuddly and soft again.
Fabric softener is unsuitable for cashmere! The ingredients smooth the surface structures and the clothing becomes worn out. If you want to do something good for your cashmere piece, then use a commercially available hair treatment or our Allude Condition conditioner. It is added to the wash cycle after every tenth wash. This extra portion of care makes the sweater cuddly and soft again. By the way: A sweater that feels particularly soft does not necessarily have to be of high quality. If it is easy to grip, i.e. not too fluffy, you can assume that it has been carefully processed. It usually retains its wonderful quality for many years.
Smells
Contrary to popular belief, washing is not the only way to remove unpleasant odors from your clothes. Most odors can be minimized or even eliminated by airing out your belongings overnight. Steaming offers another option as the hot steam kills bacteria. After airing out and steaming, you can finally spray your clothes with a textile spray (Cashmere Refresher) and they will smell fresh again.
Make items fluffy again
A special tip from cashmere queen Andrea Karg: Put the damp sweater in a freezer bag and leave it in the freezer for one to two hours. Then let it dry lying flat. Lightly steam the flat knitted items with a steam iron (don't touch them, just hold them over the sweater!), then the hairs will stand up again.
Colors
In order to preserve the color of your clothing in the long term, it is advisable to sort your laundry items by color. Dark clothing items should be washed together with other dark items, colored items with other colored items, and white items should be washed separately. Although dyes usually adhere very well to cashmere, it is better to be safe than sorry and avoid any risk of dye transfer.
Temperature
It is safe to wash your cashmere items at 30 degrees, but be careful not to exceed this temperature. Higher temperatures can cause the cashmere to mat. Unfortunately, once cashmere has felted, it cannot be returned to its original state.
Machine laundry
Not only can you do this, you should do it. Machine washing on the wool cycle is better than hand washing! The basics: Wash briefly in lukewarm water (never over 30! degrees). Turn it over, fill the drum no more than halfway and spin briefly at low speed (600). The cashmere item may still be damp, but should no longer drip. If it still drips, please spin again.
Hand wash
Every cashmere item can be washed by hand or machine. Below you will find detailed instructions on how best to do this.
Hand wash instructions
- Pre-treat stains and/or soak your clothing if necessary
- Fill your sink with lukewarm water (max. 30 degrees)
- Place your garment inside and gently squeeze water and detergent through the fibers
- Let it sit for 15 minutes and repeat the gentle pressing to allow water and detergent to penetrate the fabric
- Drain the water and detergent and rinse the clothing with cold water
- Repeat this process
- Finally, rinse it with water until there are no detergent residues left
Drying
There are numerous methods for drying laundry, but some are gentler than others and will contribute to the longevity of your garments. Three common drying techniques are presented below.
- Hang to dry: Please do not dry your cashmere hanging. Due to the water and weight it still contains, the cashmere can easily lose its shape. It is best to let it dry lying down.
- Lay out flat to dry: Cashmere prefers to be dried flat. This is the best way to protect the shape of the item. Find a flat surface, such as a drying rack. Now lay the cashmere flat on the stand and let it dry. If you only have one table, place a terry towel under the cashmere to catch excess water. Please make sure that you change the towel frequently to avoid waterlogging.
Dry in the tumble dryer: Please do not put your cashmere items in the tumble dryer. If it is absolutely necessary, please dry it in the dryer on cold air. The fine scales of the wool hair get caught and stick together. The cashmere fabric shrinks and becomes felted.