The main advantages of a down jacket are comfort and warmth, and it is also very easy to clean. A down jacket can be washed, which cannot be said about fur coats or winter coats. However, the problem can be dilutions and the filler, which is lost after washing. Fortunately, this can be avoided if you do the right thing. Let’s consider the advice of housewives on how to properly wash a down jacket without divorce.
Filler material
The main advantages of this method are complete control over the process and gentle influence. But even here there are nuances. First of all, it is necessary to find out which filler is used as a heat-insulating material.
- Down and feather
The designation “down” means down, and “feather” means feathers. You should be especially delicate with such fillers, as strong creasing will inevitably lead to deformation of the jacket: feathers will start to crawl, and fluff will clump together. If the down jacket is very dirty, you need to pour a little liquid product on the problem areas and lightly rub with a brush. Before that, it is necessary to unfasten all fur fragments, belts, brooches, for ease of washing, it is better to fasten the jacket.
In order for the fluff not to stray, the vertical washing method is often used: the item is hung on the shoulders and attached to the bracket, and then watered from the shower. A brush dipped in a liquid agent is used along the entire perimeter of the product, paying special attention to heavily dirty places – sleeves, hem edges, collar. Thus, the procedure is repeated several times, achieving visual cleanliness.
When washing down jackets made of feathers or down, liquid products must be used, as powders clog the fabric and are poorly washed, leaving stains. You can take the brands “Laska”, “Unipukh”, “Domal Sport Fein Fashion”, “Heitmann”.
- Wool
Woolen down jackets are made, as a rule, from sheep or camel wool, they are heavy and it is problematic to wash them by hand. It should be taken into account that they often shrink and do not abuse hot water. The optimal temperature is 30-40 degrees.
- Sintepon
Sintepon jackets are less warm, but also less capricious when washed. They can withstand washing in hot water, they can be washed in a basin, crushed, wrung out. True, this applies to quilted products, as non-quilted ones quickly lose their volume after three or four washes. But the sintepon must be washed with a special detergent to avoid splits when the down jacket dries.
- Isosoft
Four times thinner than sintepon, but much warmer. It also does not present great difficulties in washing and accepts the manual method.
- Holofiber
Fully synthetic material. More resistant to mold, so you don’t have to worry about the down jacket not drying out and rotting quickly. It allows washing in hot water with a liquid detergent, squeezing with hands, cleaning with a brush.
Hand washing rules
- The down jacket, completely freed from accessories, is immersed in a large container with water of the required temperature and soaked for 15 minutes.
- Next, the most contaminated areas (side seams, pockets, collar, hem cut) are soaped with a brush and a liquid agent, after which the down jacket remains in the basin again for 20-30 minutes.
- After pre-cleaning, the down jacket is washed as usual with a special liquid detergent.
- It is necessary to rinse the jacket several times: the first one or two times in the basin, the final rinses – in the shower. This will minimize the occurrence of divorces.
Washing in a washing machine
Sometimes there is a container with water on the label, but the palm icon is missing. This means that machine washing is recommended. In order to avoid divorces, you need to observe the temperature regime of 20-35 degrees and use the delicate washing mode. A lot also depends on proper drying: the down jacket is dried only on the shoulders with the pockets turned out and the zippers fastened for 2-4 days.
The main advantages of machine washing: speed, the ability to remove the smell of sweat, make the down jacket soft and fluffy. However, frequent machine washing is also undesirable: experts recommend washing a down jacket no more than 2-4 times per season.
Machine wash rules:
- It is necessary to make sure that there are no foreign objects in the pockets of the jacket. The belt, fur collar, hood and lining are also removed and washed separately.
- It is necessary to make sure that the label of the product allows machine washing.
- If the fluff has already started to come out or there are holes in the product, you should abandon automatic washing.
- When washing down jackets, you should never use powder detergents and ordinary washing gels, as they clog the fabric, do not rinse well and leave streaks. It is necessary to choose special liquid shampoos marked for washing down products.
- It is not recommended to use a large dose of detergent that exceeds the mark on the measuring cup (lid).
- Only one jacket can be placed inside the drum of the machine, even if it is not very large. Placing more than one jacket in the wash, there is a risk of snagging the product, tearing it, and obtaining a poor-quality result. It is also not possible to put a down jacket in the car together with other, smaller things.
- It is recommended to wash the down jacket in the “Bio-down” mode. If there is no such mode, you can use the “delicate mode”.
- The down jacket should be pressed only at low speeds. With powerful spinning, there is a risk of spoiling the jacket: the feathers will crawl through microholes caused by deformation during improper spinning.
- Do not use bleaching agents, even for light-colored down jackets made of any material. First, the material will turn yellow, secondly, the bleach will eat the fabric, and the fluff will come out.
What to do if there are divorces
It is not so easy to remove stains, because they cannot be removed with plain water. White streaks indicate poor-quality washing: the temperature regime may have been violated, rinsing was not carried out thoroughly enough, ordinary powder was used instead of gel for washing products. Such stains can be washed by wiping with a soft sponge with a diluted liquid agent. The stain should dissolve, and then, with a clean cloth, it should be cleaned with water without detergent. All remnants of the gel must be removed, otherwise the situation will repeat itself. After that, the down jacket is hung on the shoulders and dried.
If the filling of the chicken is pure fluff, wetting it strongly is not recommended. You should wash only the place of divorce, without affecting the rest. At the same time, the rags are squeezed out most carefully so that the cleaned fragment does not turn into a lump.
If the discharge is yellow, it is most likely fat. The jacket has not been washed, so it must be washed in the machine again.
Sometimes, due to poor drying, dark, brown spots remain on the jacket. These are mold growths, which are also removed only with a full machine wash.
Correctly washing a down jacket without separation is not an easy task, however, with the right approach, it is quite feasible. Therefore, it is important to take into account all recommendations so as not to buy a new thing later.