Cover photo credit: Kirby Allison
Take care of your clothes and they will look good on you.
In this article, I offer you a list of five accessories that will help your favorite pieces stay beautiful over time.
On the one hand, I will mention some basic points which may be obvious to some but which are always worth remembering. On the other hand, I'm also going to go a little further by giving you some advice that you may not have thought of.
1. The shoe tree
Monsieur Chaussure shoe trees
You probably already know this accessory to put in your shoes and which fulfills several missions:
- It absorbs moisture, whether it's rainwater or sweat from your foot. The shoe tree prevents the leather from softening
- It limits walking creases
- It maintains the shape of your shoe to prevent it from deforming, bending forward
Shoe trees wouldn't be too much trouble on Allen Edmonds with marked creases that stick out at the end
We advise you to choose solid shoe trees, made of cedar wood .
A full shoe tree
A shoe stretcher, not full
We don't really recommend plastic shoe trees.
full plastic shoe trees . It can be useful
Here's how to use them properly: put the shoe trees on immediately after wearing your shoes and leave them for at least 24 hours , ideally 48 hours. This is the time needed for them to act effectively.
Once this time has passed, you can take them off to put them on another pair of shoes.
So, you can deduce that there is not necessarily a need to have a pair of shoe trees per pair of shoes.
If you are able to have shoe trees for all your shoes, that is ideal. Otherwise, you can rotate by inserting shoe trees into the shoes you have just worn by taking them from shoes not worn for several days.
You will find shoe trees almost everywhere in stores, whether in specialized shoe care stores such as Monsieur Chaussure or Valmour or directly from shoe brands .
The average price is between 30 and 40€ . Unless you have a specific need or want to purchase shoe trees with the right shape from a high-end brand, there is not necessarily a need to spend much more.
2. The hanger
Button Pierre/EyeEm for Getty Images
There are three main materials for hangers: wire, wood and plastic. Choose wood whenever possible.
A hanger can have several thicknesses : it can be thin, medium thick or thick.
A wooden hanger with wide shoulders to hold a structured coat or jacket. Kirby Allison
Put away the tops
The main rule for storing coats and jackets is quite obvious and is to match the thickness of your garment to the thickness of your hanger.
If you have a fairly heavy coat or a jacket with padding at the shoulders, choose a thick hanger as shown just above.
For a medium-weight coat (a raincoat for example) or a blazer with little or no structure, a medium-thick hanger may be sufficient.
For your shirts , a thin or moderately thick hanger will suffice, without taking up too much space. As such, I do not particularly advise you to store your shirts flat in a wardrobe, because in addition to creating creases, the collars of your shirts will be crushed, flattened under the pile. Ultimately, why not for casual shirts, with fairly flexible collars that accept folds better.
On the other hand, we really do not recommend hanging your knitted clothes on a hanger , whatever they are.
Store your stitches flat, folded.
Poh Kim Yeoh for Getty Images
Put away the stockings
The general rule is quite simple:
-
Put away your casual pants
-
Put away your dress pants
on hanger
Julien on his blog Stiff Collar . You can remember this drawing:
Two hangers, two ways to store your pants
Here, remember to fold the pants along the central fold , at an angle:
We can clearly see here the central fold which goes down the leg...
...the pants are therefore folded at an angle, following this fold. Drake's
We find hangers at very variable prices, but if we take wooden hangers, I see that it can cost from €5 to €30.
For really nice hangers, you can look at American brand Kirby Allison , formerly Hanger Projects. Please note that the brand is distributed by the French distributor Valmour. This will be more convenient than ordering directly from the brand's website.
3. The storage cover
Drake's cover
I am talking here about a suit cover type product.
In addition to being able to be used to transport clothes, a storage bag serves to:
-
Protect your clothes from sunlight, and therefore prevent them from fading. You can use it for hanging clothes in a closet exposed to sunlight
- Protect your clothes from dust , for example for coats that would remain stored without moving during spring and summer
You will mainly find covers made of synthetic polyester or cotton. Try to use cotton if possible.
You will easily find this accessory in stores but if you are looking for more high-end ones, I haven't seen a lot of them except at Drake's like in the photo above, or, once again, Kirby Allison.
4. The pilling razor
A sweater that pills is not necessarily a sweater of poor quality .
Sometimes it's even normal. Michel explains it very well in the article he wrote on this subject:
Against pilling, he recommends the pilling razor . The model you will find most easily is a Philips, which will cost you between €10 and €15.
I would add one piece of advice for use regarding this accessory: do not press on your clothing with this device, you risk making holes . Use it gently on the surface, as if you were caressing the material.
An alternative is the pilling comb . This is an accessory for manual use, a little less aggressive than the electric pill shaver.
As such, the Atelier Particulier brand recently released one.
Available here
5. Moth repellent
Source
To our great misfortune, moths like to nibble on our favorite clothes made from woolen or more fragile, precious materials.
Eric Brasseur for Getty Images
Because prevention is better than cure, I invite you to place an anti-moth product where your woolen clothes are stored: in a closet, a jacket pocket or a storage box for example.
There are two approaches:
- Chemical moth repellents such as aerosol insecticides
- Natural moth repellents like cedar balls or a sachet of lavender flowers. If you have extra cedar wood shoe trees at your disposal, chances are it will have the same effect as cedar balls.
To my knowledge, both methods work pretty well. So, you can choose a natural moth repellent.
Another method to prevent moths from attacking your winter knitwear would be to store them in vacuum boxes during the spring/summer season. You will also save space.
We place our clothes in these boxes ...
...and we suck in the air.
And if one of your sweaters has been attacked by moths, this can be remedied :
To continue the reflection, I invite you to take a look at the following contents:
