Some shops may not have try on rooms so wear clothing that is easy to try clothing on over as well as to change into and out of.
To stay clean and comfortable throughout the day consider taking along some hand sanitizer or baby wipes. If you tend to get hungry, you may want to bring a small bottle of water and snacks.
If you are concerned about your carbon footprint, instead of accepting new plastic bags with your purchase, you may want to bring a bag your already have to re-use.
Those fabulous clothing bargains you picked up today in the thrift and vintage shops could be harboring potentially dangerous critters that could wreak havoc on your wardrobe. To help you protect your current clothing and enjoy your new thrift finds, ZTrend has created a tip sheet on treating and caring for pre-owned items as well as other convenient tips while thrift shopping.
Clothing moths will dine on your most luxurious cashmere, silk and woolen fabrics. As a New Yorker, there was a time when I believed that East Coast moths were different from other moths, more sophisticated than their relatives living abroad. They adore designer labels (Chanel and Lacroix being at the top of their list), and always tend to nibble on the most visible areas of a garment like the bust, collar, and the outer cuffs. The truth is a moth is, a moth no matter where it's from, loves natural fibers just like their cloth-eating beetle friends. They favor furs and even unthinkable processed fibers like rayon and bamboo, and if your luxurious natural-fiber garments haven't been cleaned before storage, well they will be at the top of a moths dinner list.
No matter how clean a second-hand garment appears, always handle it as if it is in need of laundering. Moth and beetle eggs cannot be seen with the naked eye and once those babies hatch in your home the devastation can be unimaginable. You can keep your wardrobe safe by taking a few simple preventative measures.
- wash and hot dry washable garments
- professionally dry clean
- tumble in a hot dryer (30 to 60 minutes)
- outdoor sunshine and brushing the garment
- deep freezing (1 to 2 weeks)
Items that can be wet laundered, wash and dry clothing in a hot dryer. For clothing that cannot be laundered by machine, although a bit expensive, you can bring them to your professional dry cleaner for clothing that is ready to wear.
A second method to protect your wardrobe is to tumble items dry (not wet) into a hot dryer for 30 to 60 minutes. It won't clean your clothing but it will rid it of eggs and larva until you can properly clean the garment. If using a shared dryer, keep in mind that you may want to tumble them a bit longer than 30 minutes since most commercial launder mat dryers automatically program in a heating up and cooling down time. If you are afraid to put certain fabrics and furs into a hot dryer and are fortunate enough to have access to a deep freezer, you can freeze your items for one week, (two if you are paranoid like me) to kill all eggs and larva. Hang your garments outside on a sunny day and use a garment brush to whisk away foreign material. Wet natural fabrics, especially wool tend to shrink in extreme temperature fluctuation: cold to hot or hot to cold, so keep the wash water a similar tempreture to the rinse water. Pilling will happen, especially to wool, when friction to fabric occurs during washing or tumbling in machines and dryers so turn them inside out and consider using a garment bag when opting to use a machine instead of hand washing. Hand washing is best as it spends less time in the water - less time to shrink.
