The dreaded “Dry-clean Only” tag…
There are plenty of opinions on dry-cleaning out there; be it concerning the environmental effects, necessity or cost. But what it all boils down to is, hand-washing is a far easier method for cleaning your garments. You can conduct business from home, using regular household items (i.e. shampoo) and have complete control over the process! No more concern over Perchloroethylene, also known as perc, PCE, C2Cl4, or tetrachloroethene, the solvent used by 90% of dry-cleaning businesses in the United States! This chemical is highly toxic and has several harmful side-effects if not used correctly.
The good news? All of Mayu’s hand-knit alpaca products are hand-wash! Should you want to dry-clean your products, you certainly may, however we suggest washing them in Woolite or shampoo. This is the method used by the Peruvian artisans; in the photo is Mari–after a long day of traveling with the alpaca fiber, she hand-washes the fiber in baby-shampoo and when she is done, she will take it up to her roof to dry in the strong Andean sun. If you choose to hand-wash, lay the items FLAT to dry. The shampoo leaves the alpaca soft and smelling yummy (as opposed to the smell of dry-cleaning chemicals!) If at any point your item becomes wrinkled, press it with a steam iron.
So there you have it, one more reason to buy alpaca! Don’t forget to read more about Mayu and shop for alpaca to help support artisans. As always, we appreciate your comments, questions and ideas. Please follow us on Twitter@shopmayu, follow the blog and become our fan on Facebook.
Tags: alpaca, Alpaca Fiber, Alpaca Hand-Knit Apparel, artisans, Artisans from Peru, dry-cleaning, Hand-Knit Alpaca, hand-wash, Mayu, Peru, Pure Fiber, Washing
