Care Guide
We are big believers in prolonging the life of our clothes. This means we don’t pay too much attention to trends in fear that they’ll be just that - a passing fad. We believe in clothes for life. In order to promote this we start with the highest quality natural fabrics and garment making processes. We follow this up with sharing our knowledge on how to care for your clothes to ensure they last. And, never one to leave the sewing kits behind in hotels, we’re also big supporters of repairing and renewing our garments to keep them in the cycle that little bit longer.
Our care principles
Wash Mindfully: We often fling things into the washing basket when in actual fact, with closer inspection they could probably go another outing or two.
Stains: Look for stains before you wash and treat accordingly. If you spot a stain after you’ve washed a garment - be sure to wash it again before ironing.
Iron Mindfully: In the same vein as piling things into the washing basket, we often do the same with ironing. Be selective and iron the essentials. Ironing isn’t great for the fibres in our garments.
Hang Wisely: Always hang clothes on the right size hanger and away from direct sunlight. We like wooden hangers best and make sure the hanger isn’t stretching the fabric beyond the seam at the shoulder.
Tumble Dry: Dryers tend to break down the fibres of a fabric and can lead to shrinkage and/or ageing of the garment.
Repair it: If you happen to snag or tear your garment, don’t leave it to get worse. All is not lost - a bit of clever fixing can actually give a garment a new lease on life.
Specific Fabric Care
Cotton
This season we have our super cosy brushed cotton check, in addition to our cotton jersey. As a natural fibre we love to use cotton throughout our collections, year on year. It’s a soft, breathable fabric that’s easy to look after and gets better with age. All cottons regardless of their type have the same care instructions and can be hand washed or machine washed at up to 40 degrees. Always wash with like-colours. Washing less regularly will retain the quality of your garment. We like to maintain the longevity of our clothes and tumble drying is harmful to the garment and of course to the environment.
Denim
Made from cotton fibres, denim has become a staple fabric in our collections. Denim is a twill fabric, consisting of a warp and weft yarn that are woven together. This adds to the durability of denim and is one of the reasons why we love it - it is hard wearing meaning it lasts. It’s true, denim gets better with age, but you do still need to look after it. Avoid over washing - it simply doesn’t need it. You can easily spot wash any areas that need attention. Wash inside out and on a 30 degree cycle, or lower to avoid excessive fading.
Corduroy
This season sees the introduction of two new types of jumbo cord - our washed jumbo cord in addition to our stretch jumbo cord. These join our ever popular needlecord. We love corduroy for its versatility - delivering on both the softness of velvet and the durability of denim. Corduroy is a hardy, long wearing fabric that can be hand washed or machine washed at 30 degrees. We recommend washing inside out. Avoid washing corduroy with fabrics that produce lots of lint (fleece, felt or terry cloth) because it will adhere to the corduroy. Don’t overload the washing machine when washing cord as this can lead to lots of wrinkling. If ironing, avoid applying too much pressure as this can flatten the pile and cause a smooth, shiny appearance.
Knitwear
Autumn/ Winter 2024 sees our first foray into knitwear/ accessories. From 100% cashmere, to our wool/ cashmere mix, to our wool blend - all our products are spun from the highest quality yarns and deliver on supreme softness, warmth and comfort. We recommend dry cleaning or hand washing our knitwear accessories. For all other knitwear garments, we recommend hand washing, inside out on a cold wash. We advise using a wool detergent if possible.
For any further care guide enquiries or previous season fabric care instructions, please feel free to email us and we will do our best to help - hello@katebarton.co.uk