Do you follow or flout garment care instructions?

[tangerine]

Have you "disobeyed" care instructions, and what happened to your clothes?

Do you do your own laundry? Use a wash and fold service?

At what point did it become not okay to put jeans in the dryer, anyway?

 

[PrinceOfCats]

Always...I never dry-clean my shirts I just handwash them.

 

[Julie Michele]

I have noticed that the dry clean only craze seems to be a predominantly US thing, which isn't surprising since there is a dry cleaner on every corner. I think it's a ploy. You could by the same exact garment in Europe and it will just say to gentle wash it in cool water and hang dry.

 

[PrinceOfCats]

Well all my clothes say dry clean and I live in England...I think it's just designer clothes...

(N.B. we have loads of drycleaners in Europe, too)

 

[tott]

I wash my own clothes, and I try to avoid drycleaning whenever possible because it's not very friendly to the environment. Not to mention the fact that it's a pain to drop off and collect the stuff...

I follow washing instructions to a point; I know what kind of washing materials should be able to handle. If the label says handwash I will wash by hand if it's wool/cashmere. If it's cotton and says handwash or 30°, no way: into the washing machine it goes, at least 40°. It usually works fine.

I've handwashed "dryclean only" stuff with great results as well.

The exception to my rule is jackets/coats, because they usually have interlinings and stuff which can get "unruly" unless you dryclean.

 

[faust]

i've disobeyed, but not to an extreme extend - I wouldn't wash wool in hot water or anything like that. But when I see 100% cotton item that says "hand wash in cold water only" I naturally raise a brow.

 

[tott]

Originally posted by PrinceOfCats@Mar 11th, 2004 - 11:26 pm
Well all my clothes say dry clean and I live in England...I think it's just designer clothes...

(N.B. we have loads of drycleaners in Europe, too)

All clothes are required to have washing instructions. I think "dryclean only" is the safest bet to put on the label. It's not always true...

 

[PrinceOfCats]

I notice that, say M&S for example, tend to have care-labels closer to the truth...

 

[ahhGucci]

Originally posted by PrinceOfCats@Mar 11th, 2004 - 10:26 pm
Well all my clothes say dry clean and I live in England...I think it's just designer clothes...

(N.B. we have loads of drycleaners in Europe, too)

Same here. The suit trousers I wear for my piss around suit says dry clean only, I stick them in the washing machine. Hmmmn, they looks fine. I think

 

[PrinceOfCats]

Watch the thigh-linings if you do.

 

[MurakamiPrincess]

I disobey them all the time. Also, when something says to "hand wash", (which I'm too lazy to do!), I put it on the gentle cycle

 

[As You Like It]

Hell, no! I hand wash darned near everything that says "dry clean only."

Why, you might ask? Because every stinking time I have sent something to the cleaners, it has come back f*cked up. Linings shrunken, permanent horrible smells, spots that it *didn't* go to the cleaner having...I don't have that kind of money to spend on cleaning that destroys my clothing.

I figure if I wreck something, well it's my own stupid fault, but I am not about to pay somebody to mess my stuff up.

 

[fashionista-ta]

I usually follow instructions Pretty much everything I wear out of the house goes to the cleaners ... but when it needs it, not after every wearing.

 

[lozenges62]

All clothes are required to have washing instructions. I think "dryclean only" is the safest bet to put on the label. It's not always true...

I remember reading somewhere that in cases where either hand wash or dry clean could work, up-market shops are more likely to label something as dry-clean only because it makes the product seem more precious. Lower-end shops don't because they reckon people won't pay to dry clean a piece of clothing that didn't cost them very much to buy. (I'm in Europe, though, where dry-cleaning is relatively rare).

I've disobeyed instructions a few times and I've had no problems so far.

 

[Melusine]

I remember reading somewhere that in cases where either hand wash or dry clean could work, up-market shops are more likely to label something as dry-clean only because it makes the product seem more precious. Lower-end shops don't because they reckon people won't pay to dry clean a piece of clothing that didn't cost them very much to buy. (I'm in Europe, though, where dry-cleaning is relatively rare).

I think that's an interesting point. I'm in Europe too and a lot of the recent Gap 'European' collection - which tried to market itself as more design-led and fashion forward - seemed to be dry clean only, perhaps to give a more up-market feel.

I had a couple of pairs of trousers which I hand washed though, and they seemed to come out ok - I'm not sure I think it's worth paying to dry-clean stuff from Gap..

 

[PonyShow]

um i think the only time i look at labels is when im shopping and checking the size...

 

[jadedskies]

A leather jacket I recently bought says to clean only by a "leather specialist". I have no idea where to find one, so maybe I will wash once in a while by hand.
I don't really ever follow the instructions, as far as "dry clean only" - if a garment seems delicate or is of quality, then I will hand-wash it.

 

[Snow-White]

i religiously follow instructions.

My washing machine has a "hand wash" cycle so sometimes I use that instead of washing them myself.

I have ruined a lot of clothes! So I have learnt to follow the instructions. Its amazing how much longer they look "new" now.

I always wash clothes inside out.
White clothes separately. Black clothes separately. Colours separately,
Night wear separately. Jeans separately.

(hmm, I never realised how much separating I do)

 

[fashionista-ta]

A leather jacket I recently bought says to clean only by a "leather specialist". I have no idea where to find one, so maybe I will wash once in a while by hand.
I don't really ever follow the instructions, as far as "dry clean only" - if a garment seems delicate or is of quality, then I will hand-wash it.

I take leather (well, suede) to my dry cleaners & they send it to a leather specialist.

 

[Hebden]

90% of the time I flout. I obsessively handwash most of my clothes, if something is cotton and says "dry clean only" I'll usually wash it myself. I tend to think that most care instructions say dry clean so that people can't complain if they put a piece of clothing in their washing machine and something goes horribly wrong but if you wash something carefully yourself, by hand, you tend to be okay.

Up to this point, any issues I've had had been with items that I've had dry cleaned.