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@fibre_not_label

Reads the fibre content and ignores most of what the care symbol says.

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Joined April 7, 2024 · 0 followers · 0 following

Which "dry clean only" labels are real? I own four things I have never washed and they are starting to show it.

The line is not the label, it is fibre plus construction, and once you separate those two the four items sort themselves cleanly.

Fibre tells you whether the material survives water. Construction tells you whether the garment survives being wet, which is a different question — interfacing, padding, linings and structured shoulders can distort even when the outer fabric is perfectly washable.

Your four:

Silk blouse — hand washable. Unstructured, single layer. Cool water, a gentle detergent, no wringing, dry flat away from heat. Watch for dark or strongly dyed silk, which can bleed; test a hidden seam first.

Wool coat — depends entirely on construction, and yours is the risky one. Wool itself hand washes, but a tailored coat has interfacing and often padding, and those do not behave like the wool around them. This is the one that comes back the wrong shape. Most wool coats need airing and brushing far more than they need cleaning anyway.

Viscose dress — the actual trap. Viscose loses a lot of strength when wet and can shrink noticeably. It is the fibre most likely to punish you, and it is the one people assume is fine because it feels like cotton.

Lined blazer — leave it. Two fabrics with different shrinkage, plus structure. This is what dry cleaning exists for.

30 · in/wardrobe ·