How to care for cashmere

A good cashmere jumper can last twenty years. Most last three. The difference is almost never the jumper. It is the way we wash it, dry it and put it away. Cashmere is not difficult to look after, and ten minutes of care, a few times a season, will keep yours soft and in shape for a very long time.

What cashmere is

Cashmere is the soft undercoat of a goat that lives in the cold mountains of Mongolia, China and Afghanistan. Each spring, herders comb the goats by hand. One goat gives about 150 grams of usable fibre a year. A jumper needs the fibre of four goats.

This is why real cashmere is expensive, and why a very cheap cashmere jumper should make you ask questions. It is usually made of short, weak fibres that form small balls, called pills, after two wears.

How to choose well

Before care comes choice. A jumper that is well made is easy to keep.

• Touch. Good cashmere is soft and also a little dry and springy. If it feels as smooth as silk in the shop, it has been over-washed with softener and will pill.
• Stretch. Pull the cuff gently. It should return to its shape at once.
• Light. Hold one layer to the light. You should see a dense, even knit.
• Ply. Two-ply yarn, where two threads are twisted together, is stronger than single-ply.

Washing: by hand, in cool water

Do not dry-clean cashmere more than you must. The chemicals make the fibre hard. Washing by hand makes it softer each time.

1. Fill a basin with cool water, at 30 degrees or less
2. Add a small spoon of wool soap or baby shampoo
3. Turn the jumper inside out and press it under the water
4. Leave it for ten minutes, moving it gently once or twice
5. Rinse in clean water of the same temperature until the water runs clear

Never rub, twist or wring. Wet cashmere stretches easily and does not forgive.

People are afraid to wash cashmere, so they wear it dirty, and the moths arrive. Wash it. It wants to be washed.

Isabeau Laurent

Drying: flat, and slowly

Lift the jumper from the water with both hands, supporting its weight. Lay it on a clean towel, roll the towel up and press to remove the water. Then lay the jumper flat on a dry towel, pull it gently into shape and leave it for a day, away from sun and heat.

Never hang a wet jumper. The weight of the water pulls it out of shape, and the shoulders will carry the marks of the hanger for ever.

Pilling

All cashmere pills a little in the first weeks, where it rubs: under the arms, at the sides, where a bag sits. It is not a fault. Short fibres work their way out and form small balls.

Remove them with a cashmere comb, moving in one direction, with the jumper flat on a table. Do it after the first three or four wears. After that, a good jumper hardly pills again.

Storing

Fold your knitwear and keep it on a shelf or in a drawer. Do not hang it. At the end of winter, wash every piece before you put it away, even if it looks clean. Moths are drawn to traces of skin and food, not to the wool itself.

Put the clean jumpers in cotton bags with cedar wood or dried lavender. Plastic is fine for a month and bad for a season, because the fibre needs air.

Moths

If you find a small hole, act at once.

• Put the jumper in a sealed bag in the freezer for three days
• Wash it
• Empty the drawer, vacuum it and wipe it with vinegar and water
• Check the clothes that were next to it

A good repair shop can close a small hole so that it is invisible. It costs between ten and thirty euros, and it is always worth doing.

How often to wash

Wash a jumper after four or five wears, or when it no longer smells fresh. Between washes, hang it in the air for a night after each wear. Give it a day of rest before you wear it again. The fibre is elastic, and it recovers its shape when it rests.

A jumper for twenty years

The oldest jumper in our office belongs to our editor. It is navy, it has leather patches at the elbows that were added in its twelfth year and it is softer than anything in the shops. She washes it by hand, six times a winter. There is no other secret.