How to take care of scarves and ties?
Clothes make a man but clothes in conjunction with the right accessories make a better man. While most of us take great pains over the acquisition and maintenance of our clothes, we often neglect to accessorize well and more importantly maintain such accessory items of clothing like scarves and ties. Some of these accessories are bought with a specific outfit in mind while others are like all weather friends and can be used to enhance the appeal of several of the outfits in your wardrobe, provided you take adequate care to maintain them in mint condition!
Scarves and ties are always worn in knotted or folded form and hence creasing is the first problem in their maintenance. The damage caused due to exposure to perspiration, alcohol based de-odorants and perfumes, traffic pollutants, dust and the like are problems associated with the maintenance of clothing accessories like ties and scarves. Typically these are made of fine materials like silk and satin and are best preserved through dry cleaning. The presence of non-silk lining in most ties further underlines the need for dry cleaning because a machine wash cycle causes shrinkage of the outer tie material and inner lining material to different extents, leading to a sloppy appearance. In case of non-silk ties too, gloss is lost due to water cleaning. After you dry clean your ties, a few additional precautions in terms of everyday maintenance at home will ensure a longer life for them. Always store your ties on necktie hangers and cover with an anti-dust bag. It may be further advisable to insert a necktie shaped cardboard inside to prevent wrinkling. If you do have to iron your ties, use low temperature ironing and iron the tie quickly, preferably after laying a sheet of tissue paper over the tie.
Scarves are our next area of concern. Scarves flatter several of your outfits depending on their colors, textures and even the styles in which you choose to wear them. Dry cleaning is the way to ensure a longer life with undiminished sheen! After you take off the scarf, undo the knot, flatten the scarf and fold neatly. Make sure that you do not place heavy clothing or other material on top of the scarf, inside the wardrobe. This will prevent ungainly creases on your scarf at the time of subsequent use. Should you choose to risk washing the scarf at home, make sure that you use gentle, spin-free wash cycles with eco-friendly detergents. Bleach is a big no-no. Scarves ought to be dried in the shade to preclude damage from the rays of the sun, especially from ultra-violet rays. Storage is best done inside cardboard boxes, lined with sheets of tissue paper. Do not store in direct contact with mothballs. While moths are an acute threat to your finest scarves, chemicals contained in mothballs are also not far behind in terms of capacity to cause permanent damage to them.
If you follow these guidelines and take good care of your ties and scarves, they will serve you well over the years without ever looking “old.”
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