There are hundreds of guides online on how to take care of your clothes, many of them terrible. The New York Times, however, just published a simple and thoughtful guide, covering everything from how to properly wash dress shirts to the basics of shoe care. And the advice is very good.
One quibble: Pheromone traps for moths won’t take care of a moth problem, they’ll only alert you to when you have one. True moth protection comes from vigilant cleaning. Vacuum regularly, wipe down shelves, and get into those nooks and crannies. I dry clean about once a season, but use a clothes brush regularly. Kent sells some basic and reliable ones, although our advertiser The Hanger Project has some luxurious pieces if you want to splurge. They’re on sale right now for 15% off with the checkout code GBRUSH15.
The section on stains also gets into very specific kinds of problems, whereas we think it’s better to think of stain treatment in terms of oil vs. water based stains, which will allow to you have a better sense of whether something should be laundered or dry-cleaned. Sometimes washing a stained garment can be the worst thing you can do, depending on the problem.
Some other potentially useful guides? We have ones for how to repair denim and knitwear, a general guide for how to care for sweaters, a post on my favorite detergent for handwashing clothes, a post on our favorite at-home stain remover, and a general guide on how to take care of your clothes. If you’re at a loss for how to find a good dry cleaner, we have some tips here. For clothes that are truly special, however, I recommend just sending the work to Rave FabricCARE (they’ll take mail-ins). Frankly, I haven’t found anyone better.
