With ongoing restrictions related to COVID and many people continuing to work from home, not only have we had to get used to dressing for the endless stream of video calls we now live with every day (versus how we may dress if we were just lounging around at home), but it also has had an impact on how we care for our dressier clothes.

Look, we all may be getting away with wearing that ketchup stained shirt a little longer than we normally would, but keeping your clothes fresh, clean and maintained correctly is as important as ever to help keep them looking great and lasting longer. While you may find that dropping stuff off at the dry cleaners inconvenient or unnecessary right now, figuring out what you can clean at home, versus what you probably shouldn’t can be tricky, but that’s why we are here! We’ve put together a cheat sheet on what you can and cannot clean at home.

Shirts

A dress shirt only seems to have that crisp look when you first buy it, or when it comes back from the cleaners, right? Wrong.

Gentlemen, invest in a steamer and you can take out wrinkles every single day if you choose to. While an iron is still the closest thing we have to a press - the service you’ll get from cleaners that provides the wow factor of a perfectly crisp shirt - a steamer will earn you better mileage and is far easier to use.

A steamer will save you money in the long run and make your shirts look great.

So why consider a steamer at all if the cleaners’ press gives the best appearance? Pressing is like taking steroids for your workout - you might see incredible results, but there are side effects. Just like the damage steroids will do to your body over time, the heat from a press will ultimately break down the shirt’s fibres and lead to the fabric tearing faster than you might expect. Steaming is a more delicate process that works on all fabrics and is more suitable for frequent usage than a press, or even an iron.

What about the many shirts available today that are safe to machine wash? Getting to know which ones in your closet are machine washable is important, as those can be worn - and washed - at a higher frequency. In fact, shirts that are not washed very often after multiple wears are more prone to yellowing around the collar, as body oils can absorb into the shirt, so take advantage of the ability to wash those shirts that are washing machine friendly.

TIP! Running a cold water wash will fit the bill for any washable shirt (though make sure you use cold water friendly detergent for those loads!). Hang the shirt to dry in a non-damp room for best results.

Take out the collar stay (if the shirt has them). They are all interchangeable because they are all one standard size.

When you take the shirt out of the wash, be sure to hang the shirt to dry. Don’t throw it in the dryer because heat will destroy and shrink your garment, ruining your investment.

Use wood or plastic hangers when hanging it up to dry, while avoiding metal hangers. Metal hangers can rust, leaving marks on your shirt that you definitely do not want. Using your shower rod to hang is better than any tightly packed closet but pretty much anywhere your shirt has room to breathe is perfectly fine.

Use a spacious rod, like a shower rod, to hang your shirts to dry.

Once you’ve hung the shirt up, take the opportunity to use your hands to shake and tug out any wrinkles while the shirt is still damp.

You can steam the shirt when it is a little damp or after it has completely dried. To remove wrinkles, be sure to pull the fabric taut. Steam the shirt body from the inside, with the steamer head facing you to be the most effective. When complete, the shirt will be a bit damp, which is normal.

Sweaters

When it comes to sweaters, it’s really important to review the washing instructions printed on the item’s label, because some materials really cannot and should not be washed. Doing so can completely ruin the sweater, or turn it into something that will fit a newborn.

If the sweater lacks clear washing directions, but describes itself as delicate or requiring delicate handling, you are best served by hand washing the item. Here is a video on how to hand wash:

If your washing machine has a delicate setting, that might also do the trick. Before risking your favourite delicate sweater, though, perhaps try a cycle with something you’re a bit less worried about, or even check out online reviews of your washing machine to see what others have experienced.

Be sure to avoid the dryer, but if you absolutely must, make sure you set your dryer to a low heat setting. Drying on a high heat setting will shrink your sweater.

Blazers and Dress Pants

Let’s get this out of the way first - most blazers and dress pants cannot be machine washed. Wools (the most common fabric used for tailored garments) do not like water. Having said that, it’s important to know that dry cleaning does not need to happen after each wear. A suit should be cleaned after 5-6 wears or - of course - when it’s soiled in some way. You can opt to extend that to 7-10 times if it is steamed on a regular basis. Steaming can kill odour-causing bacteria, which is the most telling sign that a suit needs to be cleaned.

Outside of steaming your tailored clothes, the most important tip is letting your blazers and pants breathe between each wear. Letting clothing breathe is a real thing because the time you’re not wearing the garment is time spent retaining its shape. When you’re sitting in your dress pants all day, the seams are stressed. When the pants sit in the closet, it’s as if you’re giving the pants some time to recover, so don’t forget to let your clothing rest a bit. Who knew that inanimate objects needed a break now and then too?

Jeans

While not exactly dress clothes, we’d be remiss not to address that everyday staple - jeans. Particularly working from home, there’s a good chance that you’re wearing them a lot more often these days than maybe you would be at the office.

While the majority of us are used to tossing our jeans into the wash after a few wears, you may have heard that some people advocate freezing your jeans as a way to clean them. As crazy as this sounds, brands like Nudie and Tiger of Sweden/Jeans have been advocating this unorthodox technique for decades because, like steaming, it kills odour-causing bacteria and carries some other benefits to consider.

Jeans go through an extensive washing process long before they arrive at the stores you buy them from (the wash of a pair of jeans means literally that - that they’ve gone through cycles of washing to achieve their appearance). Once you put down your hard earned cash to own a pair, there’s good reason to simply invest in a freezer bag, rather than washing the jeans regularly.

Each time you wash your jeans, you speed up the fading process, making you more likely to need another pair sooner than you had probably planned. The dye in the denim is only made to last so many washes before they fade, unless you buy a denim with a colourstay technology. Additionally, if you’re concerned about the environment, the less you wash denim, the more water you’ll conserve, which has the extra upside of saving you some money by saving on the energy and water bills a washing machine racks up.

To try the freezing method, leave just a little bit of room in your freezer and place your jeans in a freezer bag. It only takes one night of freezing to get the job done. That’s all there is to it. Once removed from the freezer, just set the jeans out for a couple of hours to warm up before throwing them on and you’ll be good to go!

Who would have thought that freezing your jeans is a way to clean them??

TIP! For stains, use a spot cleaning method using water with a tiny amount of detergent and a toothbrush.

Give these cleaning tips a go and you’ll be able to save enough money to add more pieces to your wardrobe!

When you’re ready to shop, don’t forget that you can browse Gotengo’s new arrivals and specify your preferred fabrics and care practices to fit your lifestyle best. Be sure to always review care instructions on all garments you buy from Gotengo (or any retailer for that matter) to make sure you know how you’ll need to care for your new purchase!