You just invested a decent amount of money in fur or cashmere? See below our tips from Patricia K Pritchard – all the finer things which hopefully will help you to ensure your fashion investment stays a long time with you!

First of all thank you for caring for your clothing: as both genuine fur and cashmeres are natural fibres they will last you a long time IF you give them the care they deserve.

Tips how to look after genuine fur items:

• Please do hang your fur coat always on a broad, sturdy padded hanger to keep the shoulders from losing their shape.
• Avoid hanging your fur in a garment bag, especially a plastic bag, that doesn’t breathe. If you want to keep dust and naughty nibbles off it use a 100% cotton garment bag or an old pure cotton bedsheet. It will act as a barrier against light, dust and moths – although if you have moths they might eventually nibble their way through to the fur. So moth prevention is important.
• Always keep your furs in a cold, dark and dry place to avoid drying the pelt and natural hair fibres out. If you still have a furrier in your area who offers cold storage of fur in the summer consider taking him/her up on it.
• Before storing do unpin all jewelry pinned onto your coat as it will possibly mat the fur.
• If your fur took the smell of food or some places on you went – do NOT spray Parfum on it. Instead a trick you could use is to hang it into your bathroom after you had a shower and the steam will help to self clean the hair on your fur. Make sure it is completely dry before storing it.
• A genuine fur coat should be cleaned every year by a professional fur cleaner, (this is different to your normal dry cleaner). Even if you don’t wear it often, animal fur gathers dust, oils, and odors. Even though you might not want to spend too much money on a professional clean – it is like sending your hair to a hairdresser: it will add luster and shine to the fur and keep it from becoming matted. So a little continuous investment will make sure your fur will last.
• If you have any other questions do contact us – if we cannot answer your question we will endeavour to find someone within our furrier circle or at the British Fur Trade Association – of which we are proud members – to find the correct answer for you.

Tips how to look after genuine cashmere items:

• As much as we aren’t experts for dry cleaning we personally wash our cashmere items by hand with special cashmere detergent. Whilst doing that use cold or luke warm water (NEVER hot water as this will shrink the fibres)
• Press out the excess water, but do not wring the sweater. Instead, lay it flat on a towel and reshape it as it dries.
• But before you wash your cashmere item do ask yourself if it is really necessary to wash it – as less washing is better – sometimes a good airing does the trick.
• DO NOT hang your cashmere sweaters on hangers that will pull them out of shape – instead if you can do fold them.
• As Cashmere is like fur a natural fibre it will deteriorate and lose colour if exposed to prolonged sunshine. Therefore keep the Cashmere in a cool, dark and dry place.
• If you are afraid of moths who might want to eat your lovely clothes, do place moth deterrent around your clothes – always around and never on top or underneath your clothes as the active ingredient of the anti moth items might come in contact with your natural fibres and introduce a colour change. If you are using Cedar blocks – make sure any potential rough edges are not catching your garments and giving you ladders or holes.
• After every season just before you store your winter clothes away do make sure every item you are going to store is clean, shaken out and then fold. Possibly use a garment tissue paper in between items – so no item will transfer colour from one to another.
• If you put your cashmere items away for a while do invest in a good nylon or plastic bag which can be zipped up and sealed. So they keep on smelling fresh I love putting some cedar wood blocks in there too – just make sure the wood isn’t pulling any threads off the cashmere.
• If you aren’t sure you haven’t stored any critters within – you could put your nicely packed cashmeres in the freezer for 48hrs and that should kill all moth larvae if present.
• Cashmere will start bobbling after a while – it’s a natural occurrence due to the woven fibres – but it does vary from piece to piece depending on the length of the fibres used. Give it a shave from time to time with the cashmere shaver you could pick up in a well stocked department store or online. Our favourite one is the Alessi one.

Any comments or questions – we are here to help. Do email us or contact us via instagram or the contact page on our website. Looking forward hearing from you and keep yourself updated with more interesting blogs, new arrivals and chances to win by signing up to our monthly newsletter X Patricia and Cherie from ‚Patricia K Pritchard Ltd. – all the finer things‘