Caring For Your Lingerie

A tumble dryer's heat degrades elastane faster than any other single thing you'll do to a bra. Even the "low heat" setting on most dryers is hotter than the temperature at which elastic fibres start to lose their snap.

The correct method: after washing, gently press excess water out between two clean towels. Don't wring — twisting deforms moulded cups. Then either lay flat on a drying rack or hang by the centre gore (never by a strap; hanging by straps is the second-fastest way to stretch them out). Air-dry away from direct sunlight, which fades colour and weakens elastic.

Silk pieces dry flat only, in shade. Lace pieces can hang from the band but not from delicate straps. Bralettes can tolerate a drying rack. Moulded bras should always, always dry flat — hanging wet adds weight and stretches the band.

The best travel-packing method we've seen in the fitting rooms: nest moulded cups. Take one bra, lay it cup-side up, then place a second bra inside so its cups sit inside the first bra's cups. A third bra can nest into the second. This preserves cup shape and takes up less space than laying them flat.

For soft-cup bras and bralettes, rolling works fine. For a week-plus trip where you'll wear the same few pieces, a structured lingerie travel case ($40-80, reusable for years) protects cup shape better than any packing technique.

Never check a lingerie drawer's worth into a hold bag — the pressure of other luggage deforms moulded cups even through a case. Carry-on only for bras.

Most of our clients hang onto bras too long. The typical lifespan of a regular-wear bra is 6 to 9 months of twice-or-thrice-weekly wear. After that, even a perfectly clean bra is working against you.

The clearest sign: you've moved to the tightest hook and the band still rides up your back during the day. The band provides 80% of a bra's support — once its elastic is done, the cups are doing work they're not designed to do, which is why "my bra feels fine but my straps dig in" is almost always a dead-band problem, not a strap problem.

Other signs: underwires poking out, moulded cups that have lost their crisp shape (indent test: press a fingertip into the cup. If the foam doesn't spring back, it's compressed), straps that slip off your shoulders no matter how tight you set them, lace that's stretched at the edges.

Occasional-wear bras (strapless, bridal, bustiers worn a few times a year) can last several years. Everyday bras almost never do. Buying fewer, better bras and replacing them more often is a healthier pattern than hoarding a large collection that ages all at once.

The rule for lingerie stains: cold water, immediately. Warm water sets almost everything — perfume oils, period stains, sweat-and-deodorant residue. Keep a small bottle of pH-neutral detergent in your bathroom and treat stains before they dry.

Deodorant marks on the cup or underarm: work a small amount of delicate detergent into the stain with a soft toothbrush, let it sit for 10 minutes, cold-water rinse.

Period spotting: soak in cold water for an hour, then apply hydrogen peroxide directly to the stain and rinse before washing normally.

Perfume stains (often invisible but yellow over time): cold-water soak with delicate detergent; don't iron or expose to heat until the stain is fully treated.

What not to use: chlorine bleach on any elastic or silk, hot water on any stain, commercial stain-removers with oxygen bleach (fine for cotton underwear, damaging for silk and moulded cups).