How to wash a jacket on the down?

In the cold season, when it is necessary to dress warmly, many people prefer feather-based jackets or down jackets. It is 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 is that after the inevitable in the process of wearing a wash to preserve the appearance and quality of down products.

Products based on fluff or feathers can be made from various types of this material. Sometimes down jackets are stuffed and artificial filler. Jackets can contain the following types of stuffing:

• Jackets on swan's down. The lightest, but very warm. Requires particularly delicate handling and care.
• Jackets with duck down. Usually more voluminous. Also have high heat retention rates.
• Jackets on the basis of down feather. Sometimes the manufacturer adds a bird feather to the product. This is a more dense material that contributes to the weatherization of the product. Mixed down jackets are not as whimsical in care as feather ones.

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

Before deciding whether to wash your jacket, carefully examine the contamination. If only small areas of the product are stained, for example, a sleeve on a bend or a cuff, then it is better to simply loosen these stains. To do this, you need to take a sponge or a soft brush, apply laundry soap or a stain remover on it and rub the contaminated area of ​​the feather jacket, and after cleaning wash the rubbed areas with water.

Washing the entire product should be resorted to only when it is really necessary.

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

• Unfasten outer decorative down and fur covers. The features of their cleaning will be described below. It is better to unfasten the hood of the product.
• Free the pockets of the down jacket, zip all the buttons, buttons and buttons, including on the pockets.
• Turn the jacket inside out, lining the inside out.

A more gentle, but also more time-consuming option is to wash the down jacket manually:

• Pour into a basin or bath of water, the temperature of which is 30-35 degrees. It is important not to pour cold or hot water. Cold water will “compress” the product, and it will not be able to stretch and rinse well. Hot water can damage natural filler.
• Add detergent to water. It is important to remember that products from natural down or feathers should never be washed with ordinary laundry detergent.Having made such a mistake, you will long get rid of white stains on a washed jacket. The fact is that the powder foams strongly, and it is very and 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 strong dirt, it is better to lock them up before soaking with a brush and laundry soap.
• After soaking, drain the water. Without pressing down jacket, carefully rinse it until the water after rinsing becomes transparent and there is no foam from detergent in it. You can use the rinse mode in the washing machine.

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

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

It is necessary to wash the down jacket in a delicate, gentle program. Such a mode can be called "Gentle", "Careful", "Silk", "Hand Wash" and the like.

The water temperature should be no higher than 30 degrees. You will also need to put an extra rinse cycle to rinse the product well from the foam. For the spin mode, you must set a small number of revolutions. Usually in washing machines, the minimum drum speed is 400 turnsIt is this speed that should be chosen for spinning the down jacket.

Perhaps the most difficult and important process in washing a down jacket is its proper drying. It will depend on it whether the product will return to its original beautiful appearance or will remain crumpled due to unevenly distributed and fallen down fluff. Drying of down or feather products should be carried out following the following rules:

• Drying is carried out only in a horizontal position. In no case can the product be hung vertically on a hanger, otherwise together with flowing water, the down and feather will move to the lower part of the down jacket, and it will be almost impossible to distribute the filler evenly throughout the product.
• After washing (if it was done manually), place the down jacket over the bathtub in a horizontal position and wait for a while until excess water runs out. If the wash was carried out in a typewriter, and the spin mode was used at low speeds, there would be no excess water in the product.

• After the product is free of excess water, it is necessary, again, to lay out 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 becomes just wet, and not wet, you can shake it slightly or clap your entire hand. For this procedure, a beater for carpets is well suited. Shaking or ploping a down jacket is done to better and evenly distribute the down inside the product.
• In no case do not fold wet or wet down jacket on the battery, do not hang near the radiator or heater. With intensive heat drying, bio-fluff loses volume and practically glues inside. Instead of an air jacket, you will end up with a short windbreaker.
• You can hang a down jacket vertically only after it has completely dried.

• If your washing machine has a drying mode, then the process of drying the down jacket is greatly simplified. It is necessary to establish a careful drying program at a low temperature. Typically, a small down jacket is dried in this mode for 3-4 hours. But it eliminates the possibility that the natural filler in your jacket is matched.

If the holofiber was tangled inside the product, it is easy to fix it. You should also put the wet product horizontally and periodically beat it with your hand or with a carpet beater.

It is worth paying special attention to the process of cleaning the decorative outer lining of fur or down. Usually they are placed on the sleeves, collar or hood of the product. Often, these linings are detachable, it is a more convenient option, as washing of fur and feather decorative elements in the water is unacceptable. So, if in your model of a down jacket there are detachable pads, you need to detach them from the product.

Starch is used to clean these garments.. Starch absorbs impurities and grease from fur and down of the decorative element, will not damage the color and airiness of the product:

• Fur or feather pad need to straighten and spread out on a horizontal surface.
• Densely fill the fur with starch over the entire length.
• Carefully rub the starch along the entire length of the pile from the bottom to the tips.
• Using a dry brush, wipe dry starch from the product using a gentle movement from the base to the ends. Shake the pad well for better starch cleansing.

Rag jacket with decorative down, which can not be unfastened, clean somewhat harder.

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

To learn how to wash a jacket in a fluff, see the following video.