Storing and reviving a coat between seasons

Most coats are not worn out by wearing. They are worn out in the eight months a year they spend hanging up, usually by three specific things: a hanger that is too narrow, a sealed plastic cover, and a trip to the dry cleaner that the coat did not need. Doing this properly takes about twenty minutes in spring and five minutes in autumn, and the difference over ten years is the difference between a coat you still wear and a coat you have replaced twice.

Clean it before you store it, not after

This is the step that matters most and the one people reverse. Clothes moth larvae eat keratin, which is what wool and other animal fibres are made of, and they are drawn to soiled areas: sweat at the collar and cuffs, food, drink, anything organic. A clean coat is a far less interesting coat.

For a wool coat, clean usually means brushed and spot-treated rather than cleaned by a professional. Work over the whole garment with a clothes brush, paying attention to the collar, the inside of the cuffs, the area under the arms and the bottom of the pockets, which collect more than you would like to know. Then deal with any actual marks individually with a damp cloth and a tiny amount of mild detergent, working from the outside of the mark inwards.

A faux leather coat is simpler: wipe the whole outside with a damp cloth, pay attention to the collar and cuffs where body oils concentrate, dry it with a soft cloth, and do not dry clean it at all. For the longer version of why, see our piece on what faux leather is.

Brushing, properly

A clothes brush with firm natural bristles, worked in short strokes in the direction of the nap, lifts out grit as well as dust. The grit is the point: fine abrasive particles sitting in the weave cut the fibres from the inside every time the cloth flexes, and brushing is the only thing that removes them.

Do it every three or four wears during the season, not just at the end of it. Thirty seconds across the shoulders and down the fronts is enough, and it takes the place of most of the cleaning people think a coat needs.

A lint roller is not a substitute. It takes the fluff off the surface and leaves the grit where it is. Use both if you like, but the brush is the one doing the work.

Hangers, and what a thin one does

A coat needs a hanger at least four or five centimetres wide at the shoulder end, ideally shaped with a slight forward curve. A wire hanger, or a thin plastic one from a shop, concentrates the entire weight of the coat onto two points, and over a few months that leaves a permanent bump in the shoulder that pressing will not take out.

Hang the coat with the top button or two done up so the fronts hang in line, leave space either side so air can move, and hang it from a rail rather than from a hook, which does the same damage as a wire hanger on one shoulder only.

Heavy knitwear should be folded rather than hung, because the weight of the garment stretches the shoulders. Coats are the opposite: hang them. For the coats in daily rotation during the season, a wall-mounted rail such as the Fishbone Coat Rail at least keeps them off a single-point hook, though for the long storage months a proper broad hanger in a cupboard is still better.

Moths, and what actually works on them

Cedar blocks and lavender bags have a mild repellent effect at best and no effect at all on eggs or larvae that are already in the garment. They are not a treatment. Treat them as pleasant and plan as though they are not there.

What does work: cleaning before storage, keeping the wardrobe dark and dry but not sealed, checking stored wool every couple of months, and vacuuming the inside of the cupboard, including the corners and the carpet in front of it, because that is where the larvae live between meals.

If you find holes or the fine webbing and gritty casings that go with them, seal the garment in a bag and put it in a freezer at minus eighteen for at least seventy-two hours. That kills eggs and larvae. Then wash or clean it, because dead larvae and their debris are still food for the next generation.

Why not to dry clean every season

Dry cleaning solvent strips the natural oils out of wool along with the dirt, and the cloth comes back slightly drier and slightly harder each time. It is also unkind to everything that is not the main cloth: shoulder pads compress, fused interfacing can bubble or delaminate, buttons craze, and trims shrink at a different rate from the fabric around them.

A wool coat that has been brushed and spot-cleaned through the season usually needs professional cleaning once a year at most, and some coats go several years without. Clean it when it is actually dirty or when it smells, not on a calendar.

Never dry clean faux leather, patent or anything with a bonded coating. The solvent attacks the surface film rather than the dirt on it. A glossy finish like the one on The Patent Trench is particularly unforgiving: a solvent haze on a high-gloss surface does not come back.

Reviving it in October

Take it out, hang it somewhere with moving air for a day or two, and most of the stored-wardrobe smell goes on its own. Then brush it. Then steam rather than press: a hand steamer held a few centimetres away, or a bathroom with a hot shower running for ten minutes, relaxes creases in wool without flattening the nap.

Avoid pressing a wool coat hard with a dry iron. It puts a shine on the surface that is effectively permanent, and it is most likely to happen exactly where it shows, on the lapels and the shoulders. If you must iron, use a cloth between the iron and the coat and plenty of steam.

Pills come off with a sweater comb or a proper pill remover, worked gently and in one direction. A razor blade also works and also takes a layer of good fibre with it. Finally, deal with the small repairs now rather than in February: a loose button, a split lining seam, a belt keeper that has come adrift on something like The Belted Trench. Those are ten-minute jobs in October and a reason the coat stays in the cupboard in January.

Questions people actually ask

Should I dry clean my coat before storing it for summer?

Only if it is actually dirty. Solvent strips oils from wool and is hard on pads, interfacing and trims, so once a year is plenty and less is often fine. What matters is that the coat is clean before storage, and brushing plus spot cleaning usually achieves that.

Do cedar blocks stop clothes moths?

Not reliably. Cedar and lavender have a mild repellent effect and no effect on eggs or larvae already present. Cleaning the garment before storage, vacuuming the wardrobe and checking stored wool every couple of months do far more.

What kind of hanger should a coat go on?

One at least four or five centimetres wide at the shoulder, ideally with a slight forward curve. Wire and thin plastic hangers concentrate the coat's weight on two points and leave a permanent bump in the shoulder that pressing will not remove.