From Silk to Denim: A Guide to Washing Different Clothing Materials

That favorite sweater, silk blouse, or pair of jeans rarely wears out from use alone. More often, a single wrong wash setting does the damage, through shrinking, pilling, fading, or a stretched-out fabric. A little care knowledge keeps your wardrobe looking newer for years.

Laundry day often runs on habit: sort, scoop, press start. But the clothes in your hamper are made of very different fabrics, and each one has its own rules for water temperature, spin speed, and drying. Here is how to wash ten common materials, from the most delicate to the toughest.

• Silk: Silk needs the gentlest touch of all. Wash it by hand in cold water with mild detergent, rubbing stains softly with your fingertips. Skip the dryer and hot water, and air-dry it out of direct sunlight.
• Wool: Wool shrinks and warps when handled roughly. Hand wash it in cold water, or use a gentle, delicate, or wool cycle if the label allows. Turn garments inside out, avoid rubbing (which causes pilling), and lay flat to dry.
• Nylon and Lycra: These stretchy fabrics benefit from hand washing or a low-spin delicates cycle in cold water with a mild detergent. Pretreat stains, turn pieces inside out to limit pilling, and tumble dry on low.

• Acrylic: Acrylic follows a similar routine: a low-spin delicates cycle in cool water, pretreated stains, and garments turned inside out. Dry on low heat.
• Fleece: Fleece prefers a gentle cycle in cold water. Turn jackets inside out, and never rub pieces together to lift stains. Hang dry with no heat, or use the lowest setting for a short time.
• Polyester: Polyester is easygoing. Wash it with similar colors on a normal cycle in warm water, and add a splash of vinegar to soften it and cut odor. Dry on permanent press, or tumble low or cool.
• Microfiber: Microfiber is meant to trap dust and dirt, so protect that ability. Wash it alone or with other microfiber on a normal cycle with an extra rinse, and skip dryer sheets and scented detergents. Clean the lint trap, dry on low or no heat, and never iron it.

• Linen: Linen does well on a gentle cycle in warm water, or in cool water if the color is bright, to limit fading. Tumble dry low or line dry.
• Cotton: Cotton is the most forgiving fabric and handles nearly any cycle. Start with a normal cycle in warm water, follow the label, and separate loads by color or soil level. Pretreat stains and turn shirts inside out. Hot water can shrink cotton by about five percent, so tumble dry on medium or low.
• Denim: Jeans keep their color best when turned inside out and washed in cold water. Air-dry them, or tumble on low to prevent shrinking and fading.

With the care label as your first stop and gentler settings as your default, your clothes can hold their color, shape, and softness much longer, and laundry day gets a little less stressful.

If your sweaters are the pieces you worry about most, find out which washing mistakes experts say are ruining your knitwear.