Laundry List

Patric Richardson has some very specific laundry tips to care for your clothes yourself. Chris Hrapsky SPOKE WITH THE “LAUNDRY EVANGELIST” for our summer issue, to collect all the tips and tricks you need to get clean.

Have a favorite garment with a stain or wondering how to care for your items? Don’t be afraid of your laundry, Richardson says. Everything can be cared for without dry cleaning. Take a look at his best advice:

• Cashmere
  Flip garment inside out and put in a mesh bag. Wash in the machine on the warm water setting and use a little laundry soap, not detergent. Richardson prefers the quick cycle setting on his washer. Allow to air dry instead of using the dryer. Be sure most of the water is out of the garment before you pull it out of the washer, because the weight of a saturated garment can stretch it.
• Wool Suit
  Flip the pants and the jacket inside out and put them in separate mesh bags. Wash with warm water with soap, then air dry. You can iron or steam out any wrinkles.
• Silk
  Spot treat stains with vinegar, blot dry, and put in a mesh bag. Wash on the warm cycle and lay flat to dry. Don’t drape over a hanger or chair until it is dry.
• Down Comforter
  If your comforter has any stains, treat with a mixture of soap flakes and water. Wash the comforter on warm, and throw it in the dryer on low temperature with tennis balls or dryer balls. Yes, down feathers can get wet, just as wool can.
• Egyptian Cotton Dress Shirts
  Spray the collar, armpits, and cuffs with a solution of half water and half white vinegar. The vinegar is an odor remover that cuts through the alkalinity of perspiration.

• Blue Jeans
  Keep your indigo jeans true blue by soaking new jeans in water with ¼ cup of salt to help preserve the color. Then flip them inside out and wash on warm with soap. Air dry.
• Mink Coat
  Fill the bathtub with water and lay the coat in the water with some soap. Let the soap water drain and refill the tub with fresh water to rinse. Do not pick up the garment until it is nearly dry.
• Velvet
  Turn the garment inside out and wash in a mesh bag on warm water. Air dry, but before it’s almost dry, brush the fabric and steam from the inside out to restore the plushness.
• Red Wine, Blood, Vomit, Grass Stains, and Other Organic Stains
  Use sodium percarbonate, a granulated bleach alternative, with all organic stains. For a red wine stain, use a few teaspoons of sodium percarbonate with water. The red stain chemically reacts in the solution and turns blue instantly. The blue stain will wash out in warm water in the washing machine.
• Ink
  Use rubbing alcohol and a horse hair brush to firmly, but safely, scrub away the stain with a cloth under the garment. When you have about 80 percent of the ink transferred onto that cloth, throw garment in the wash with soap.
• Lipstick
  Lipstick is one of the trickiest stains because of the oily coating around the pigment of the stain. Use white vinegar and a horse hair brush to break through the oil. Repeat this step twice while rubbing the stain on top of a rag under the garment. Once the oil is lifted, you can scrub the stain with soap until most of it is gone. Then wash in the machine on warm with soap.

Richardson’s favorite products?
Richardson prefers the simple ingredients in laundry soap over harsh detergents. But a good soap will cost you a bit more money. You can buy Richardson’s 3-ingredient blend at LAUNDRYEVANGELIST.COM. With stains, Richardson recommends using soap and brush, but not a toothbrush. He prefers horsehair brushes, also available on his site.