You spent a pretty penny on a beautiful cashmere sweater, wool blanket, or down jacket. But when your investment piece needs a good cleaning, suddenly you’re faced with another expensive prospect: paying for dry cleaning.
Fear not! Many pricey, delicate textiles are actually better off being cleaned at home in the washing machine or the sink—even if the label reads “dry-clean only.” And doing so not only saves you money but also extends the life of the fabric.
Below, we’ve rounded up all of our expert-backed advice on what fabrics don’t have to be dry-cleaned.
You don’t have to dry-clean these fabrics
Cashmere
Cashmere is frequently thought of as a material that must be dry-cleaned. However, the experts we spoke to for our guide to washing cashmere insisted that hand-washing is actually better for your garment in the long run, because dry-cleaning typically involves harsh chemicals that can damage cashmere fibers.
You also needn’t hand-wash your cashmere that frequently. We recommend against doing it after every wear; instead, we suggest washing it after every seven to 10 wears and then again before storing it away at the start of summer as added protection against moths.
Washing cashmere properly requires a sink or basin large enough to fully submerge the garment and either a drying rack that allows the garment to lay completely flat (like this mesh one from OXO) or a white bath towel that’s large enough for the garment to lay flat upon. (Avoid using colored bath towels, which could transfer dye onto cashmere.) You’ll also need a gentle soap, such as baby shampoo, or a hand-washing detergent, like our pick, Soak (which doesn’t need to be rinsed out).
We break down these instructions in our guide to hand-washing cashmere.
Silk (if it’s high-quality or lightly colored)
Believe it or not, the more expensive a silk garment is, the better a candidate it probably is for hand-washing over dry-cleaning. Although price doesn’t always correspond to quality, water can generally make cheaper silks lose their shape in the long run, either by stretching them out or shrinking them.
To quickly determine if your silk is a good candidate for hand-washing, gently scrunch it up into a ball and then let it go. If it opens up smoothly, it’s likely okay to wash by hand. If it instead stays creased and shows wrinkles, it probably should be dry-cleaned.
You should also consider your silk’s color and pattern. The darker the color, the better off it is at the dry cleaners. The same goes for silks that feature colorful patterns or dark-light contrasts, as darker dye can leak into the lighter parts during hand-washing.
Once you’ve determined that hand-washing your silk is the way to go, you can get the job done in a sink with a detergent designed for delicates, similar to what we recommend above for cashmere. Make sure to use water that’s tepid but not hot. After you remove the majority of the water by gently pressing and rolling the garment in a towel, we also recommend hang-drying your silks, rather than laying them flat, so that they dry in the right shape. (Some hangers may cause divots at the shoulders, so it’s a good idea to try padded hangers and keep a steamer at the ready.)
Wool sweaters, blankets, and (after you check the lining) coats and suits
Dry-cleaning chemicals can be overly abrasive on finer wools. Most modern wool garments (including the base layers and wool blanket we recommend) have been treated, so they can be machine-washed without shrinking. The same can’t be said about vintage wool items, however, so make sure to check the manufacturer’s care instructions before cleaning.
Though you may already know that laundering wool in the coldest water possible is key, here’s another hot tip: Make sure to use your machine’s gentlest setting, because heavy agitation and severe spin cycles are also culprits when it comes to shrinking wool.
Your suit can also probably skip the trip to the cleaners. The best way to tackle any dirt on a suit is usually with spot-cleaning.
If your wool suit or coat is more wrinkled than it is dirty, you can have your suit steam-pressed, instead of dry-cleaned, to restore its crispness.
Find out more about how to keep a wool coat looking new.
Down comforters, jackets, vests, and sleeping bags
Down is another material that can be damaged by dry-cleaning chemicals—yet frustratingly, we’ve found that machine-washing down items might void their warranties in some cases. As we wrote in our guide to the best comforters, “We’ve machine-washed the dry-clean-only Brooklinen (one of our picks for the best down comforter) for testing purposes and it worked beautifully, but Brooklinen does not advise doing this.”
The best way to machine-wash a down comforter is in a front-loading washer with a mild detergent on a cold, gentle setting. Then run it again on a shorter cycle with no soap, to make sure all detergents are gone, since they can also shorten down’s lifespan.
For more best practices on washing and drying down at home, see the “Care and maintenance” sections of our comforter guide or our insulated jacket guide.
Dress shirts (no matter what they’re made of)
Our guide to the best men’s button-up shirts includes picks made of cotton, linen, and a nylon/spandex blend—and none of them need to be dry-cleaned. For all of these materials, wash on cold to increase your shirt’s longevity, and remember that hang-drying, rather than tumble-drying, prevents any significant shrinkage.
Bed pillows (no matter what’s inside them)
Down pillows, down-alternative pillows, foam pillows—no matter what you rest your head on, all of these can be washed in cold or warm water at home in a washer and dryer with regular laundry detergent (although we recommend our top pick, Tide Ultra Stain Release). For down and down-alternative, run an extra rinse cycle to ensure all the soap has been removed from the innards before drying. For foam pillows, remove any filling and just wash the cover solo; then hang to dry. Washing the foam can cause mold growth or damage the pillow and potentially void your warranty.
Drying in high heat for too long can also mess with pillow fillings, but experts point out that high heat is the best defense against pathogens and dust, so run the dryer on high for just 20 minutes and move it to low until it’s dry.
We break down the whole process in our piece on how to wash and dry bed pillows.
This article was edited by Alex Aciman and Catherine Kast.
