I was lucky enough to have a friend of a friend give me a beautiful cashmere sweater. The original owner, however, seemed to love Davidoff or some such godawful perfume/after shave.
The thing stinks to high heaven, and now – after five days of airing it out, it STILL stinks.
Does anyone know how to get this odor out, or should I just have patience and wait for nature to take its course. And just how long is this going to take?
You can wash cashmere if you’re careful. Fill a basin full of tepid (only just not completely cold water), add washing liquid for washing woollens, something very gentle and make sure its properly dissolved.
Put your jumper (Australian for sweater) into the water and squeeze it gently, no wringing, rubbing or any rough stuff at all, just squeeze it gently. Empty the water out, add clean water and sqeeze some more to rinse. Be gentle!
Empty the water out, more gentle squeezing, then lay it flat on a thick towel, roll up and push lightly on the towel to get the water out.
Lay the jumper flat on a clean, dry towel and dry like that.
If you’re not game to wash it, you could try putting the jumper in a big paper bag with some bicarbonate of soda, bounce it around a bit and leave for a few days to see if the odour has gone.
Maybe Febreeze(sp?) spray is worth a shot?
Wear it to work at the fishmonger’s, or burn it.
Have you tried having it dry cleaned?
Most dry cleaners can clean spots/odors out of garments without damaging them. Or there is a dry cleaning kit that you can get at the super market, I have never tried them so not sure how great a job they do.
Not trying those things is a good choice. Home dry cleaning can sometimes kinda works, but I really wouldn’t recommend it.
I’ll second the suggestion for professional dry cleaning, especially if it’s really good quality cashmere. $5 or less should bring it back to as close to the original condition as is possible.
I wouldn’t recommend dry cleaning. The chemicals they use are too harsh for cashmere and may make the fibers break down.
I wash my cashmere in the washing machine. Use cold water, a mild detergent and the gentle cycle. If you’re concerned about the sweater losing its shape, put it in one of these bags. Lay flat to dry.
A gentle shampoo also works pretty well on cashmere. I wash mine with shampoo in the bathtub.