How to wash a jacket to fluff?

In the cold season, when there is a need to dress warmly, many prefer jackets based on feather or down. This is a very comfortable, stylish and, most importantly, very warm outerwear. There is only one problem that everyone who wears a down jacket will have to face. This problem consists in preserving the appearance and quality of the downy product after the inevitable process of wearing washing.

Products based on down or feather can be made from various types of this material. Sometimes down jackets are stuffed with artificial filler. Down jackets may contain the following types of packing:

• Jackets on a swan's down. The lightest, but very warm. They require particularly delicate handling and care.
• Jackets with duck down. Usually more voluminous. They also have high heat storage rates.
• Down-feather jackets. Sometimes the manufacturer adds a feather to the product. This is a more dense material, which contributes to the insulation of the product. Mixed down jackets are not as fastidious in care as feather ones.

• Down jackets on an artificial holofiber. Hollofiber is a substitute for natural down or feather. It is often used to fill warm outerwear or sports warm jackets. This material is very light, it warms perfectly in cold weather. Washing a down jacket from holofiber does not require compliance with specific rules.

Before deciding whether to wash your jacket, carefully inspect the contamination.If only small areas of the product are dirty, for example, a sleeve at the fold or a cuff, then it is better to simply stain these spots. To do this, take a sponge or soft brush, apply laundry soap or stain remover on it and rub the contaminated area of ​​the down jacket, and after cleaning, rinse the washed areas with water.

Washing the entire product should only be resorted to if necessary.

If you still can’t do without washing, before you start washing in the washing machine or manually, It is necessary to prepare the product:

• Unfasten the outer decorative down and fur pads. The features of their cleaning will be described below. It is better to unfasten a hood of a product.
• Empty the pockets of the down jacket, fasten all the zippers, buttons and buttons, including on the pockets.
• Turn the jacket inside out, with the inner lining facing out.

A more gentle, but also more time-consuming option is to wash a down jacket by hand:

• Pour water into a basin or bath at a temperature of 30-35 degrees. It is important not to pour cold or hot water. Cold water will “squeeze” the product, and it will not be able to stretch and rinse well. Hot water can damage the natural filler.
• Add detergent to water. It is important to remember that products made from natural fluff or feather should in no case be washed with ordinary washing powder. Having made such a mistake, you will get rid of white stains on the washed jacket for a long time. The fact is that the powder foams heavily, and it is very, very difficult to wash its residues from the filler layer. Sometimes even numerous rinses in the washing machine do not help.

• Soak the product in water and leave for 10-15 minutes. If the jacket had some severe impurities, it is better to wash them before soaking with a brush and laundry soap.
• After soaking, drain the water. Without squeezing the down jacket, thoroughly rinse it until the water after rinsing is clear and there is no foam from the detergent. You can use the rinse in the washing machine.

The preparatory stage for washing in an automatic machine is no different from preparing for hand washing. Machine wash should only be carried out using liquid detergent, not detergent. Do not wash other things with a down jacket. This may overload the drum or overfill the fluff during the spin cycle.

They can be replaced with tennis balls, making sure that they do not stain the product.

You need to wash a down jacket in a delicate, gentle program. This mode can be called “gentle”, “gentle”, “silk”, “hand wash” and the like.

Water temperature should not be higher than 30 degrees. An additional rinse cycle will also be required to rinse the product well from the foam. For spin mode, you need to set a small number of revolutions. Typically, in washing machines, the minimum drum speed is 400 rpm, it is this speed that should be chosen for the down jacket.

Perhaps the most difficult and important process in washing a down jacket is its proper drying.It will depend on her whether the product will return to its pristine beautiful appearance or remain crumpled due to the fluff that is unevenly distributed and fallen off. Drying down or feather products should be done, observing the following rules:

• Drying is carried out only in a horizontal position. In no case should the product be hung vertically on its shoulders, otherwise the down and feather will move to the lower part of the down jacket along with the draining water, and it will be practically impossible to distribute the filler evenly throughout the product.
• After washing (if it was carried out manually), place a down jacket over the bathtub in a horizontal position and wait for a while until excess water drains. If the washing was carried out in a machine, and the spin mode was used at low speeds, there will be no excess water in the product.

• After the product is free of excess water, it is again necessary to lay down the down jacket horizontally on a dry blanket or towel. Periodically, it will be necessary to change the wet towel to dry and turn the down jacket.
• When the product just becomes wet, not wet, you can shake it lightly or slap it all over the surface with your hand. A beater for carpets is well suited for this procedure. Shaking or slapping a down jacket is done to better and evenly distribute the fluff inside the product.
• Never place a wet or damp down jacket on the battery, or hang it near a radiator or heater. With intense heat drying, bio-fluff loses volume and practically sticks together inside. Instead of an air jacket you will end up with a scanty windbreaker.
• You can hang the down jacket vertically only after it has completely dried.

• If your washing machine has a drying mode, then the process of drying a down jacket is greatly simplified. It is necessary to establish a gentle drying program at low temperature. Usually a small down jacket is dried in this mode for 3-4 hours. But the probability that the natural filler in your jacket falls off is excluded.

If the holofiber has fallen inside the product, it is not difficult to put it in order. You should also put the wet product horizontally and periodically beat it off with your hand or a beater for carpets.

It is worth separately paying attention to the process of cleaning decorative outer linings of fur or fluff. Usually they are placed on the sleeves, collar or hood of the product. Often, such linings are removable, this is a more convenient option, since washing fur and feather decorative elements in water is unacceptable. So, if your padded jacket model has removable linings, you need to disconnect them from the product.

Starch is used to clean such items of clothing.. Starch absorbs dirt and grease from the fur and fluff of the decorative element, does not damage the color and airiness of the product:

• Fur or down pad should be spread and laid out on a horizontal surface.
• Thickly fill the fur with starch along the entire length.
• Gently rub the starch over the entire length of the pile from the base to the tips.
• Using a dry brush, carefully dry starch from the product with gentle movements from the base to the tips. Shake the pad well for better starch cleansing.

A rag jacket with decorative fluff that cannot be unfastened is somewhat more difficult to clean.

If the fluff is located on the hood or collar of the product, you can gently soak the jacket itself, leaving the areas where the fluff is located dry. Rinse will require special care. The jacket without filler does not require horizontal drying and can be dried in the usual way in an upright position. If the jacket is a down jacket filled with fluff and feather, drying must be performed as described above, in a horizontal position.

See how to wash your jacket in fluff properly in the next video.