Wool is the easiest fibre in a wardrobe to keep and the one people most often ruin, because almost everything that damages it is something done to it rather than something it suffers on its own.
Wash it less
Wool resists odour and sheds dirt. A jumper worn for a day in an office does not need washing; it needs air. Hang it somewhere with moving air for a few hours, let it rest a day between wears so the fibres recover their shape, and wash it when it is actually dirty — which for most knitwear is a few times a season, not weekly.
When you do wash it
- Cold water, by hand, wool detergent. Hot water and ordinary detergent are what felt a jumper into a smaller, denser version of itself. That change is permanent.
- Do not wring it. Press the water out against the side of the basin, roll it in a towel, press again.
- Dry it flat. Hung wet, a jumper stretches into a shape it keeps. Lay it on a towel, push it gently back to its own dimensions, and leave it out of sun and off a radiator.
Machine wool cycles are usually fine on a modern machine, at thirty degrees or less, in a mesh bag, on the lowest spin. Check the care label first — the symbols are explained in another piece in this journal.
Coats
A wool coat wants a stiff natural-bristle brush, used downwards along the nap, after a few wears. Brushing lifts out the grit that cuts fibres from the inside. Hang it on a broad wooden hanger, not a wire one, and give it space; crushed wool creases, and creased wool wears at the fold.
Moths
Moths eat the dirt and the body oils on wool, not the wool itself, which is why they go for the piece you put away unwashed. Clean it before it is stored, store it folded in a breathable bag rather than sealed plastic, and add cedar. Cedar loses its oil after a year — sand it, do not replace it.
There is knitwear here and there are coats here if you want to put any of this into practice.