Keep moths, other ‘crawlies’ away from your good duds
Q: Of course, the first year I have some clothing worth being concerned about, I saw the first moths in my apartment. Can you tell me what is the best way to store a winter sport jacket and my two heavier suits from season to season? I want them not moth-eaten and ready for the first cold day.
A: If you want to wear something like a wool tweed sport jacket, a fine cashmere blazer or winter-weight suits next fall, store them carefully.
Moths are certainly one concern, heat is another, and humidity can cause big problems. While I have my own methods, I will give you the official recommendations.
According to the International Fabricare Institute, the first step in a three-step protection process is dry- cleaning. There’s a good reason for this. Cloth- eating moths and other “crawlies” are especially attracted to soil, food stains and sweat residue. Certainly, mothballs and cedar blocks are helpful, but they can lose their protective qualities over time, making them less than foolproof deterrents. Clean clothes are far more likely to remain untouched by unwanted “visitors.”
For long- term storage, once a garment is cleaned, the second step is to remove it from the dry-cleaner’s plastic cover so moisture does not accumulate inside the bag. If you want to cover the jacket, you can do it by using either a breathable fabric garment bag or a paper bag. I find the easiest method is to assign your oldest, most threadbare pillow case to this endeavor; simply cut a small slit in the closed end and insert the hanger through it.
The last step is to store your garments in a dry, not- too- hot location. Avoid damp basements and overheated attics. A spare closet is ideal. You will want to put some cedar blocks or similar prevention items in there.
Still, if storage space is at a premium (as it so often is), one of the more useful services dry-cleaning establishments provide is seasonal storage. Some charge a fee, but many of the better professional cleaners offer longterm storage as a free service. So, not only are your clean clothes guaranteed to remain moth free, but you don’t have to devote valuable storage space to clothes you are not wearing.
Lest I sound like a shill for the dry- cleaning industry, I must note that I feel many men have their wool suits dry-cleaned too often. Certainly, I am not suggesting you should be anything less than meticulous. But it’s important to remember that clothes made of natural fibers — especially wool and cashmere — do not thrive on an excess of dry-cleaning fluids. When you dress for business each day, you shower, use deodorant, put clean underwear on your clean body and then a clean shirt on top of that. Over all these clean clothes, you wear a suit. Usually — barring stains — your suits will remain clean and fresh.
If you air out the suit after each wearing, give it an occasional light brushing with a good clothes brush, and don’t wear it for two days consecutively, there is no need for frequent dry-cleaning. One or two cleanings during a season should be enough. But let me emphasize once more that the one time when it is essential to have wool garments dry- cleaned is when the season changes and you are storing them away until next fall.
A few last thoughts. It goes without saying (but I will say it anyway): Any sport coat or suit jacket worth owning is worth the slight extra expense of hanging on a wooden or a padded hanger, not a thin wire hanger. Another point that few people know and that I learned while working in the men’s division of Neiman Marcus: Hang your jackets unbuttoned, not buttoned. Yes, you wear them buttoned, but unless you are a mobster using your enemies as suit-trees or Waylon Smithers providing the service to Mr. Burns on “The Simpsons,” your hanging jacket on even the most padded hanger will not be your natural shape. You aren’t “an empty suit,” are you? “I feel like people notice you when you wear a color like this,” said Angela Stephen, who went out for a recent South Main Art Trolley Tour.