Mr Hober
As a resident silk, tie and pocket square expert you might be able to give our readers a short primer on maintaining their silks: cleaning, ironing, storing etc
Thanks
M Alden
M Alden,
Certainly, it will be my pleasure.
Lets start with pocket squares:
With the proper care your silk pocket square should last for many years.
CLEANING
The easiest way to keep your silk fabric bright and colorful is to dry clean it at a reliable dry cleaning establishment, one that has experience with fine silk fabric.
However, silk is a protein similar to human hair and can be hand washed with a gentle shampoo, soap or detergent. Synthrapol SP, a mild detergent which has a neutral PH is a good choice (and what we use). When washing Thai silk the natural sheen of the silk will slightly fade; and the chlorine in the water will gradually change the color of the silk. On the bright side the weave will tighten and the fibers will expand giving the washed silk a thicker, softer hand.
Use cold water and ideally a soft nonakaline water. During the second to last rinse add a tablespoon of clear white vinegar to neutralize traces of alkali. Be careful to rinse out the residue of any soap leftover from previous washings before hand washing, and wash separately. If you use synthrapol SP adding vinegar is not necessary.
In a true emergency silk can be spot cleaned with just a little cold water on a cloth. Please note that this is not always going to work! The old advice to use soda water is no longer necessary. Long ago water often had salts in it which would chafe the silk. This is no longer the case with the water supply in most places.
DRYING
In Thailand silk is hung up in the shade to dry. Never, wring your silk dry, or use a dryer.
IRONING
Pocket squares can be ironed on the inside flat area. Be careful not to iron the hand rolled edges. Set your iron to a low silk setting and to be safe use a press cloth to prevent a glossy shine from developing. Thai silk fabric should be ironed on the reverse side.
For deep wrinkles a gentle steam from a steam iron or steamer should be used before ironing. Also, be very careful when steaming silk as occasionally steamers “spit” water which can cause water spots.
The above guide- lines basically will work for silk fabric that is used as the lining of a suit - before it is made into a suit. As always dry-cleaning is a good idea when you are concerned about different fabrics shrinking at a different rate.
Now for neckties I am very conservative.
If at all possible I suggest never cleaning a tie. Using an expert drycleaner who will not press your tie or tear it apart is nice. But drycleaning is never ideal. In the best case situation the cleaner will take your tie apart, clean the silk and put the tie back together. A couple of problems arise. First the chemicals used to clean the silk can at times hurt the finish of the silk, and it is unlikely that your bespoke. Mariella, Charvet or Sam Hober is going to be put back together as good as new.
With all that said, you can still do a bit of spot cleaning in an emergency and as Will has suggested steaming a tie from the back side can be helpful for travel wrinkles.
Storing your silks away from the sun in a dry room teperature area is helpful. Hanging ties after wearing them works well to help remove wrinkles. Rolling and folding etc is a personal choice. I suggest being sure that your lined ties use wool for interlining as this will help with wrnkles.
If anyone has some more tips I would love to hear them.[/quote]