Good Tips To Store Your Winter Clothes Properly

In our hot and humid country, we fall in love with cooler weather destinations for our well-deserved holidays. Places such as Japan, Korea, Europe are common places Singaporean visit during their December holidays (note: Over here, we often call it as December holiday, you don't hear the term of Winter holiday right? :))

So after your holiday, it’s time to start thinking about winter clothes storage. Because not properly storing your winter clothes like your jacket and sweater could easily ruin them, making them not wearable in the future. So what's the proper way to store them?

1. Wash your clothes before you store them

Ha! You must be kidding, wash your clothes before you store them away? This may sound counterintuitive to some but in fact, it is absolutely necessary to do so. In fact, this is probably one of the biggest mistake most people make and it’s a costly mistake!

Things like perfumes, body lotions, moisturiser and perspiration will oxidize over time, which leads to yellowing, and bacteria. Although they may be invisible at time of storage, but they will develop themselves when time passes by, causing stains down the road. Once these stains are developed, it becomes very challenging to remove them. So remember the golden rule number one, wash your clothes before you store them!

2. Learn how to use lavender sachets for storing your clothes

Properly storing your clothes include methods to reduce odor, preventing the musty smells. Learn about lavender sachets, they are great tools for you. Not only it’s great for scent, but it’s also good for repelling moths. An alternative method is lemon peels, they will dry naturally and won’t leave residue on clothes.

Some of our customers asked us about the usage of mothballs. In fact, at My Locker Laundry, we do not recommend you use mothballs for storage. Mothballs are actually a pesticide product that contain either naphthalene or paradichlorobenzene as active ingredients. Both of these chemicals are toxic fumigants and harmful. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention found that the prolonged exposure to naphthalene can damage or destroy your red blood cells and a study by United States Environmental Protection Agency highlighted that the contact of paradichlorobenzene can cause cancer. We don't like it as it's harmful and toxic - think about young children or your loved pets at home ...

Well, so you have decided you have no choice but to use mothballs, then in this case, wash any clothing that has been stored with mothballs before wearing it since the vapours will have absorbed into the fibres of your clothes. So in any case, our cleaning experts recommend you learn how to use lavender sachets or lemon peels instead of these harmful chemicals during your long term storage.

3. Never use plastic garment bags from dry cleaners when you are storing your clothes

Even though we at My Locker Laundry only uses good quality garment bags when we return clothes to you, we don’t recommend you use them for long term storage purpose. This is because over time, plastic bags will trap moisture and cause the fibres in your garment to deteriorate and yellow. For proper preservation and longevity, clothing needs to be stored in cotton, linen or a fabric that’s breathable. Storing clothes in non-breathable plastic bag or plastic storage box is NOT recommended. You can get some great linen storage box from Muji (www.muji.com.sg).

Happy storage and hope you had a wonderful winter holiday!