6.0.11 Knitwear Care Guide | How To Wash & Care For Knitwear Click here to use our accessible website
  • christmas
  • women
  • men
  • girls
  • boys
  • outerwear
  • home
  • outlet
  • journal

TYPES OF WOOL

WHAT IS LAMBSWOOL?

As the name suggests, lambswool is wool from lambs. It’s taken during the young lamb’s first shearing, at around seven months old, when the wool is at its softest - especially on the undercoat. It’s a great choice for those that want to welcome a wool jumper into their wardrobe without the worry of feeling itchy. As the lamb grows, its coat is coarser and becomes more common sheep’s wool.

Not only is lambswool considered one of the finest on the market, it’s also full of technical benefits. It regulates and adapts to the body’s temperature meaning if you’re cold the wool will retain heat, but too warm it will transfer the heat away from the skin. It’s also hypoallergenic perfect for allergy sufferers and is naturally flame resistant.

How to Wash Wool

Whether it’s a new ladies’ wool jumper you’ve been excited to purchase, or his forever favourite men’s wool jumper, knowing how to wash your wool garments is a crucial part in ensuring your knitwear doesn’t need updating every season.

When it comes to washing lambswool handwashing is generally considered the best for lambswool, in warm water and using a wool detergent. Do not dry clean, tumble dry or hang on a hanger during the drying process as all of these methods can stretch, shrink or warp the fabric. 

If your care label specifies that your lambswool garment has been treated and therefore is machine washable, always use a gentle wool cycle on a low temperature. 

As a general, sheep or a range of synthetic wools can be safely machine washed, unless the care label states differently. With 100% wool content it’s often better to air on the side of caution and handwash, but low wool content should fare perfectly fine in the machine - provided you use the right settings. If your washing machine has a ‘wool’ setting, this is best as it keeps the temperature cool and the spin slow. If it doesn’t, then set your machine to the coldest wash (below 30) and if possible use a wool detergent or wool shampoo.

How Do You Wash Merino Wool?

The good news about cleaning Merino wool is that it doesn’t need to be done very often due to the aforementioned odour resistant properties. And as a general, to keep your knits looking and feeling their best, either spot cleaning or only washing them when really needed is key to their longevity. 

When the time does come to washing garments such as Merino wool jumpers be sure to check the care label. If it says ‘dry clean only’ or even ‘do not clean’, then take it to the professionals and get their insight. Better to be safe than sorry. Otherwise, as with the other wools, handwashing is by far the safest method. 

Invest in an enzyme-free wool or cashmere shampoo and fill a sink with cool water and leave to soak for 30 minutes. Rinse the garment until no more soap remains, then gently press the water out before lying flat to dry. 

If your care label gives you the green light to machine wash, then be sure to turn your jumper inside out, place into a mesh bag to avoid any potential snagging and use a gentle, cool wash.

How to Wash Cashmere

If you’ve invested in a cashmere jumper you might, understandably, feel some nervousness when it comes to washing it for the first time. While this natural fibre isn’t as delicate as you might assume, care should still be taken to keep it in the best condition possible.

A hand-wash is the most recommended way to wash cashmere as it’s gentle and controllable:

- Fill a basin with lukewarm water - not hot as this can cause cashmere to shrink - and add a gentle detergent. Baby shampoo also works a treat. 

- Leave it to soak for 15 minutes before lightly moving the garment around to remove any obvious dirt. 

- Empty the basin and re-fill with cold water to rinse out the detergent until no more suds remain. 

- Squeeze out the excess water being careful not to ‘wring’ the garment as this can cause the fabric to stretch.

Machine washing cashmere is also possible and some care labels may even suggest it. If opting for this, only use a short cycle on a low temperature and if your machine has it, a ‘wool’ or ‘delicates’ setting.

Confirm Country Change

Are you sure you want to navigate away from this site?

If you navigate away from this site
you will lose your shopping bag and its contents.

Cancel

Recently Viewed

Loading...

There are no Recently Viewed items to show. Items will appear here as you view them. You can then select the images to revisit the items.

Oops' Something's gone wrong! Please try again