How to care for your innerwear

Innerwear is mostly elastane, and elastane has three enemies: heat, harsh detergent and mechanical stress. Almost everything below follows from that.

Get this right and a good bra lasts a year of regular wear. Get it wrong and the same bra is finished in three months.

Washing

Cool water, always. Hot water is the single fastest way to destroy elastic — it does not clean innerwear better, and it costs you the fit.

By hand, which is what we recommend:

1. Fill a basin with cool water and a small amount of mild detergent.
2. Soak for no more than ten minutes. Longer does not clean better and does weaken elastic.
3. Squeeze gently through the fabric. Do not scrub or twist the cups.
4. Rinse in clean, cool water until it runs clear.

By machine, if hand washing is not realistic:

• Always use a lingerie bag. Without one, hooks catch on everything in the drum.
• Fasten every hook before it goes in.
• Cold water, gentle or delicates cycle.
• Never with jeans, towels or anything with a zip.

Skip fabric softener entirely. It coats elastane fibres and stops them recovering their shape.

Never wring

Wringing is the most damaging thing you can do to a bra. It twists elastic past its recovery point and permanently misshapes moulded cups.

Instead: press the water out between your palms, lay the piece flat on a dry towel, roll the towel up and press. That removes most of the water without twisting anything.

Drying

Shade, not sun. Line or flat, never a dryer.

Direct sunlight fades colour and degrades elastic. A tumble dryer does both faster, and the heat is what finishes moulded cups off.

Hang bras by the centre gore, or dry them flat. Hanging a bra by one strap stretches that strap over time, and a stretched strap never sits right again.

Storing

Moulded cups hold their shape until something crushes them.

• Stack bras front to back in a drawer, all facing the same way, cups nested.
• Never fold one cup into the other — that fold becomes permanent.
• Keep briefs and camisoles separate from anything with hooks.
• Store everything fully dry. Even slight damp encourages mildew in a closed drawer.

Rotate

Elastic needs about a day to recover its shape. Wearing the same bra two days running noticeably shortens its life.

Three or four bras worn in rotation will outlast two worn constantly — by more than the arithmetic suggests.

Fabric notes

Cotton and cotton blends breathe best in Indian heat and are the most forgiving to wash. They may shrink very slightly on the first wash, which is accounted for in our sizing.

Nylon and polyamide blends dry fastest and hold colour well, but are the most sensitive to heat. Cool water only.

Lace trims snag easily. Wash them in a bag even by hand, and keep them away from velcro and jewellery.

Activewear should be washed after every session. Sweat left in synthetic fibres breaks down elastane and causes odour that will not wash out later.

When to replace

Even with perfect care, everyday bras need replacing every six to twelve months.

The test is the band: if it no longer feels firm on the tightest hook, the elastic has gone. No amount of adjustment brings it back, and a slack band means your straps are doing work they were never designed for.