The change of season is the perfect time to give your wardrobe a deep clean and a fresh make-over. As the day’s get cooler and the nights grow longer, there’s no better feeling than finding a much-loved cosy jumper and snuggling up in it again.
So here’s a quick guide for how to prepare your wardrobe for the winter ahead.
Organise
- Sort out your items by season and put the summer wardrobe away. Use an eco-friendly compactor bag for easy storage.
- Clear out items that you don’t use and donate to a local charity or pass on to your friends and family.
Clean
- Freshen up your winter clothes –
- Air them by hanging them next to an open window.
- Use the freezer to kill bacteria or moth larvae and to eliminate smells. The freezer can also stop cashmere and wool sweaters from pilling by shrinking the fibres. Pop them into a re-usable zip lock bag and leave in the freezer overnight.
- Wash them in the machine using an eco-friendly detergent and wash at a low temperature (30 degrees or less).
- Give your wardrobe and drawers a good clean to give your clothes the best chance to stay moth and damage-free.
- Vacuum from top to bottom and deep into the corners.
- Wipe down all the surfaces using a home-made all-purpose cleaner.
All-purpose cleaner
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 1/2 cup water
- 12 – 24 drops essential oil (lavender is great for the wardrobe as it repels moths)
- (see Sophie’s World for a list of essential oils and their uses in cleaning)
Mend
- Darn holes, fix buttons & zips and upcycle garments that you’ve grown out of. With a simple pattern, an old jumper can be made into a beanie.
- If you don’t know how to patch, darn or mend already, join a sewing class to brush up some skills. Failing that, support your local tailor.
Invest
If you need to buy new clothes for the winter, make sure you invest in high-quality, long-lasting and sustainably-made garments. Where possible, look for clothes made from natural fibres. They not only are more effective at keeping you warm and dry but they will eventually biodegrade rather than pollute the Earth for 1000’s of years.
Enjoy
Once you have done all of this, you should have a much cleaner more simple wardrobe. Have a go at creating a capsule wardrobe! It is so much easier to create mix and match outfits when you have simplified and can actually see what you have to play with.
Now step out in style in your new season wardrobe!
