Maintenance and care of silk
Care of silk is a very important because it is a very resistent fiber but is also quite delicate. Dry clean or hand wash is strongly recommended, but it’s also possible to machine wash, using a delicate cycle (max 30° Celsius). It’s a good idea to use neutral soap and never powder detergergent, bleach, any ammonia or whitener
The process
For hand washing we suggest to soak the silk for 5 mins in warm water; if the silk garment is coloured, it must be rinsed quickly adding a bit of vinegar to the water will give more brightness to the colour. For White silk garments, add some hydrogen peroxide when rinsing; move the silk garment carefully, without twisting and rinse using cold water, most importantly, dry the garment flat without exposing the silk to direct sunlight, so you can avoid staining and fading. Above all we suggest to iron the silk garments when they are still damp, placing a cloth inbetween the garment and the iron, will ensure no steam stains.
Special tips for the care of silk
If machine washing, the drums must be perfect without burrs to avoid pulling threads and ruining the silk, likewise washing bins must be very smooth. (see picture)
Another aspect to consider is that wet silk has the tendency to surface abrasion; rubbing causes pilling with the formation of fluff that reults in a loss of brightness, for this reason, it is strongly disadvised to tumble dry when the silk is damp. These problems do not occur when dry cleaning, for the reason that during this process the silk doesn’t become wet.
Silk electrostatic charges
Finally, some silk products can have electrostatic charges, a solution doesn’t exist, but certainly the use of a softner can reduce the problem.