Premium wool by its nature self cleans. Mud cakes upon it, dries and falls away. Dirt shakes free in the natural course of use. However, all stains, such as blood spots, should be rinsed while fresh with cool water. On those occasions when your wool needs thorough cleaning, you can either dry clean or if you prefer hand washing we recommend that you attend to these three principles: 1. Hand wash. 2. Use the correct temperature water. 3. Dry slowly and naturally.
1) A simple water bath with baking soda is often sufficient to clean dirty wool. You can spot-treat soiled areas with a paste of gentle, pure soap, such as Lux, Ivory or Woolite prior to washing. Some of the modern day scent free soaps may also be used. Just make sure they are of a mild nature. You can wash these garments on the gentle wash cycle of automatic washers. HOWEVER, we highly recommend hand washing over machine washing. Even on the gentle cycle in modern washing machines, water-soaked wool becomes heavy and the mechanical agitation of a washing machine pulls unduly at sewn seams and at fabric weave, reducing garment life.
2) Avoid subjecting wool to sudden changes in temperature when washing. Throwing your wool into ice cold water, or of course hot water, can lead to excessive shrinkage. For best results, bring your wash water to room temperature or slightly cool to touch before washing. Again, hand washing gives you more control over water temperature.
3) Squeeze water from washed wool by blotting it dry between towels or gently squeezing the excess water out by hand. A good trick to get a lot of the water out of the garment is to throw it into the washing machine and run it through a spin cycle.
IMPORTANT!! Finish drying at room temperature, stretching and blocking the wool back into its original shape while it is still wet, especially along its length. It is very important that you allow wool to dry evenly and naturally.
If you dry wool over a clothesline, make sure it remains out of direct sunlight. If you dry it indoors over clothes racks, keep it away from hot air registers.
4) These wool garments can be dry cleaned but we do not recommend this type of cleaning as dry cleaning uses very harsh chemicals. Harsh chemicals are the last things you want to use in a woolen product as it removes much of the natural oils and properties of wool. If you do have your wool dry cleaned, instruct the dry cleaner to use very little of the dry cleaning chemicals.
With a little extra care, this clothing will stand up to a lifetime of hard hunting. A few minutes spent hand washing in water brought to the correct temperature, followed by thoughtful drying methods, will preserve for your children hand-me-downs of the same quality you bought new.