During the cold season, many people prefer to stay warm with down jackets. These items can be found in stores at affordable prices, offering a stylish and high-quality winter garment. Customers often opt for a white down jacket, which looks great but is very demanding in terms of care, including removing the numerous stains and stains that appear here and there. We'll tell you how to properly machine wash a white down jacket to avoid accidentally ruining it.
Getting ready to remove dirt from a down jacket
First, let's study the clothing manufacturer's instructions to see if they allow you to wash their products at home. You can tell this by the label on the inside of the jacket, which is most often located near the collar or at the very bottom of the garment.
If the label does not prohibit washing in a "home assistant", then you can safely continue cleaning.
Never wash a down jacket in the washing machine unless the manufacturer specifically prohibits it. It's best to play it safe and take it to the dry cleaner.
If your jacket can be washed, you need to carefully prepare for the process. First, carefully inspect the garment to find heavily soiled areas—usually the cuffs, collar, and areas near the pockets. It's best to hand-wash these areas with soap. Afterward, do the following:
check your jacket pockets, remove all foreign objects;
remove the collar, belt, cuff, lining, and decorative elements;
Close all zippers, buttons and Velcro fasteners;
Finally, turn the item inside out.
Also, don't store a dirty down jacket folded in the washing machine drum. Place the jacket in the machine immediately before the cycle and remove it immediately after the cycle is complete. After washing, be sure to hang the down jacket on a hanger.
How are we going to wash away the dirt?
In addition to thorough preparation, it's also important to choose a high-quality laundry detergent. Household chemicals directly affect the effectiveness of washing and the condition of your down jacket. That's why it's better to use a liquid gel detergent rather than regular laundry detergent. It won't clog the down jacket's filling, won't leave stains or streaks, and is easy to rinse out. If you don't have a special gel detergent at home, you can use hair shampoo.
Liquid laundry detergents that don't leave dirty marks will help you wash your down jacket without yellow stains.
In addition to liquid soap, gel, and capsules, you can also find special household chemicals for treating down items. These are essential to prevent the down from clumping, prevent damage to the garment material, and effectively remove stains. It's worth choosing a few.
Special balm Domal Sport Fein Fashion.
Gel brand Profhim.
Gel from Heitmann.
This is far from the entire range of household chemicals suitable for treating down jackets, but these are some of the best products for this purpose.
Let's start washing
All preparations are complete; all that's left is to select the correct washing mode, set the temperature, and activate your "home assistant." However, even at this stage, there's no need to rush, so first, check the washing machine for cleanliness. Even the slightest dust or dirt in the drum can affect the effectiveness of cleaning your down jacket. That's why you should first remove all the smallest dirt from the drum, rubber seal and debris filter using a sponge and soapy water.
Once the machine is clean, carefully place the down jacket in the drum, smoothing it out first. Next, add detergent to the detergent dispenser in the designated compartment. Next, select the appropriate program—the program name may vary depending on the machine. It could be "Down," "Down Duvet," "Hand Wash," "Delicate," and so on. Determining the appropriate program is easy, as it's intuitively clear from the name, or you can simply consult the official user manual.
Next, select the correct washing temperature—it shouldn't exceed 30-40 degrees Celsius. You can also activate an extra rinse to improve the cycle. As for the spin cycle, it's best to use a medium speed, for example, 800 rpm. This will effectively remove water from the garment and prevent deformation from the intense spin. If you're not satisfied with the spin quality, you can repeat it, but never set the spin cycle to 1200 rpm or higher.
For added safety, place a few tennis balls in the drum. They will prevent the down from clumping during operation. Be sure the balls are clean, ideally new and unused. Otherwise, they may stain your clothes.
It's also important to check whether tennis balls dye colors, as if they accidentally stain a down jacket, removing the stain will be nearly impossible. This is easy: just soak the balls in soapy water next to any white fabric. Ideally, the fabric should be similar in properties to the down jacket itself. If you have a fabric sample from the down jacket, usually attached to the spare button tag, use that instead. If the test shows the balls are safe, you can run the washing machine and wait for the cycle to complete.
Getting rid of residual moisture
Because you shouldn't use too much spin, your down jacket will remain damp after washing. Therefore, you should also ensure the garment is dried thoroughly. While it might seem like a tumble dryer or washing machine with a dryer function would be helpful, it's not recommended. "Home helpers" can really dry a winter jacket well, but they can also damage the filling.
For this reason, you should always dry down items naturally at home. Be sure to follow these drying guidelines:
Place your down jacket on a hanger or hangers, do not use clothespins;
leave the item in a well-ventilated area or outdoors, for example, on a loggia or balcony;
shake the clothes from time to time to ensure the fluff inside is evenly distributed;
Never hang your jacket near heaters, radiators, or other heat sources.
Finally, once the drying process is complete, be sure to fluff the garment. You can do this with a carpet beater. It's important to do this through a sheet or similar fabric to avoid accidentally damaging the down jacket. After fluffing, the garment will look as good as new.
As you can see, there's nothing complicated about caring for a white down jacket if you follow all the instructions carefully. Keep these recommendations in mind so you don't have to worry about the condition of your favorite garment during the colder months.
During the cold season, many people prefer to stay warm with down jackets. These items can be found in stores at affordable prices, offering a stylish and high-quality winter garment. Customers often opt for a white down jacket, which looks great but is very demanding in terms of care, including removing the numerous stains and stains that appear here and there. We'll tell you how to properly machine wash a white down jacket to avoid accidentally ruining it.
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