How To Care For Your Wool Suits

Suits are expensive garments, requiring specific care routine.

With an investment piece, you'll want to make sure you get the most out of your suit. This means taking care of it, the way it was meant to be cared for!
Here are a series of tips and tricks for keeping your wool suit in tip top shape and maximising the longevity you get from it.

Ensuring Longevity

- Try not to overburden your pockets. Don't leave heavy or bulky items in there for long periods.
- Before sitting, unbutton your jacket and pull the thighs of your trousers up slightly. This reduces the tension on the maximum pressure points of your suit while you're sitting.
- Only dry clean when absolutely necessary.
- Use a clothes brush regularly; combined with spot cleaning minor spillages, this will prevent a need for regular dry cleaning.
- When ironing, press rather than running the iron over it. It takes longer to press, raise the iron and press the next spot, but it minimises the risk of turning the fabric shiny.
- Utilise good quality wooden hangers for your suits, and store them in a garment bag when not in use, in order to protect against moths.
- Allow at least 24 hours between wears, for your suit to air out and regain its natural structure.

Wool-Specific Fabric Care

- If your wool garment gets wet, hang it out of direct sunlight to dry.
- Read the care label. Even if a particular wool fabric is machine washable, the canvassing and structure inside a jacket may be ruined by a mashine. Always read the care label before carrying out any washing or maintenance.
- Finer wools should be massaged with a damp cloth instead of brushing.
- Before dry cleaning, try airing off your suit for 1-2 days out of direct sunlight to allow any odours to escape. Wool should only need a maximum of two dry cleanings per year.

Removing Stains

- Deal with stains immediately. Don't let them set into the fabric, if possible.
- Use a fine, clean cloth to blot at the stain. Don't rub it, or you may spread the stain.
- If using a spot cleaning solution or stain remover, ensure it is safe to use on wool fabric. Test the product on an out-of-sight area on the garment before trying it on the stain, to avoid conspicuously removing colour from the fabric.
- Any stains should be removed before you iron your garment. Pressing a stained garment is likely to set the stain into the fabric.
- If a stain won't come out, have it dry cleaned as soon as possible.

Pressing / Ironing Wool Suiting

- Always set the iron to the specified setting on the care label. Mostly, this will be the wool setting on the iron.
- Utilise water with the iron. Use the steam function of your iron where necessary, and ensure you never iron a wool fabric when it is bone dry.
- If there is excess water that must be quickly removed, squeeze gently. Don't wring.
- Use a pressing cloth where possible, to further reduce the risk of surface shine.
- Obtain a tailor's ham in order to make clean presses on curved areas, such as the seat of the trouser or lapel.
- Don't press lapels flat! Your tailor exerts a lot of effort to create a nice lapel roll.