We love delicate high-quality clothing. Nevertheless maintaining your clothing beautiful can be challenging. We asked Monique van Heist some of the most frequently occurring problems on taking care of your beloved clothing:

 

- How to deal with silk in case of a grease stain? "Do not try to remove it with a remedy, do not rub the fabric. This will damage the fabric and may bleach. The best thing to do is to immediately wash cold or dry clean the clothing item."

- How does a colored silk item retain its color using the washing machine? "Use a short washing program, and wash as cold as possible, use small amounts of detergent and last but not least do not tumble dry."

- What do you recommend: to wash wool warm (30 degrees) or cold? "Wool is best washed cold. Use a wool wash program with low speed, and as little (wool wash) detergent as possible. The more detergent the more chance of the different items of clothing getting friction, which can cause it to shrink and felt."

- How would you suggest to clean jeans? "The best thing is to not wash it at all but you’ll smell it eventually haha! I would suggest wash at 30 degrees and avoid the tumble dryer. Do note jeans wear out way sooner with it and in case of a stretch jeans tumble dry affects the elastane."

- How do you keep your t-shirts white? "Avoid stains ;). Wash with other white pieces only."

- In case of a shrunken woolen sweater/crepe pants, is savior possible? "No."

- What is the best option to wash prints? "This depends on the fabric type and the type of print. My motto is don't wash on a high temperature, except for your bedding."

- Can you prevent dark clothing from becoming pale?  Is a small amount of vinegar helpful? "This might be a good idea, also little detergent and shorter wash programs help prevent a pale color."

- Best detergents? "I would suggest organic ones, without perfumed additives. I always use Ecover. Read the instructions on the bottle. Most people use too much, which wears out clothing and your washing machine. Furthermore too much detergent may cause your machine to suffer from sea lice. This results in stinky clothing when washed."

- Most important advice? "Always read the washing instructions in the clothing label. Do not wash your clothes often, air them or put them on a heater that turns off odors. Clean your washing machine regularly, and then run a washing program with vinegar at 90 degrees in the drum. Wash as little as possible by hand, you have to wring to get the water out and that will damage the structure of the fabric.  Preferably choose a short program in the machine."

To conclude: all the above advice is based on personal experiences, no rights can be derived from it!