How to Take Care of Your Vintage Clothes

Vintage clothing is often beautifully made, otherwise it wouldn’t be appreciated by so many people, especially women, throughout the world. However, we need to consider that vintage clothes are by definition second hand garments, which means that they all have been worn before. This is why you should always pay close attention to your vintage clothes and the way you take care of them. If they are in the least damaged, you may find methods to repair them or you can emphasize their beauty by using only parts of your vintage clothes with newer items.

Before buying retro wear clothing, you should always check for particular stress points in the garment. For instance, because of the age of the clothes, you may need to look out for yellow spots, tears, or moth holes. Other problems include the condition of the under arms, fastenings and zips. You will find that some damage is perfectly repairable with a visit to a tailor. However, if the material is too worn, it will eventually disintegrate before you have a chance to take advantage of that piece of vintage clothing.

What you also need to remember is that vintage clothes often need professional cleaning. Since this may turn out to be much more expensive than the vintage clothes themselves, you need to watch for the cost of such an operation. Do your best not to allow your vintage clothes to get stained with substances like grease or liquids such as red wine, or anything that would require cleaning treatment with extensive biological detergents. At the same time, you may find that some newer spots or stains may be easily cleaned, while older ones may stick to the garment forever. So make sure you are well informed of the condition of the garment before buying it.

Where you can, wash the vintage clothes yourself. However, pay attention to the detergent you use. Retro wear clothing requires a delicate hand wash liquid, since chemical substances can often increase the deterioration and disintegration of vintage materials. Make sure you wash and then rinse over and over again. If you really trust your washing machine, you will need to use your common sense when it comes to vintage clothes, as the damage may be irreversible. Wash them on a delicate program, at a warm temperature, around 30˚ C. Never tumble dry your vintage clothing. Instead, hang them out to dry. If you are unsure, you can always check in a book, as you will find quite many of them on the market.

You may also find it possible to remove small spots, but be very careful not to damage the fabric. Before trying to remove a spot or stain, you must always test the fabric first, whether you are using spot cleaner, water, alcohol etc. Make sure you test it in an area where the potential damage wouldn’t be so noticeable. The successful removal of a stain usually depends on the stability of the dye. Red is the least stable color, so remember to be extra careful with vintage clothes in this color.

Fabrics such as velvet, rayon, acetate or weighted silk are also rather fragile, so remember to treat gently the vintage clothes made of them. In fact, it’s better not to attempt to clean weighted silk by yourself, but let a professional cleaner do it. Older acetate and rayon in vintage clothing also tend to become weak in contact with water, while very often alcohol makes dyes run from fabrics such as rayon and acetates. Your best bet for removing spots would be cleaning fluid. The best cleaning method is by gently pressing water and cleaner through the fabric, with no wringing or scrubbing it.

Sometimes, the vintage clothes you purchase may not require extensive cleaning, but they have a totally undesirable, overwhelming musty smell. Usually, you can fix this by using an air ionizer, which will get the smell out of the garments without any cleaning involved. What you need to do is put the clothing in a sealed room with the machine for a day or two, and the problem will soon be history. This works especially if your piece of vintage clothing has a smoky odor to it. However, remember not to put items containing rubber or elastic with the ionizer, as it will cause them to disintegrate. Good luck!

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