Silo · fibres and materials · what the garment is made of
Fabrics
What each fibre tolerates and what ruins it — suede, leather, wool, cashmere, silk, linen, polyester, viscose, velvet and faux leather.
Fibre limits
How to Clean Wool Without Felting It
Wool is not ruined by water but by moisture, heat and movement arriving at once. That is why the correct wash is a ten-minute…
Can You Machine Wash Viscose? (Half Its Strength Is Gone While Wet)
Viscose loses about half its strength the moment it gets wet. Machine washing works, but only on a cycle that never wrings it, spins…
Can You Machine Wash Wool? (The Label and the Cycle Both Decide)
Wool felts when moisture, heat and movement arrive together, and a washing machine supplies all three by design. Two things have to be true…
Can You Machine Wash Velvet? (It Depends What the Pile Is Made Of)
Velvet is a weave, not a fibre. Polyester and most cotton velvet take a cold delicate cycle with the spin held low; silk and…
Can You Machine Wash Suede? (No — and Water Is Not Why)
Suede survives rain, so a wash cycle looks survivable too. It is not: the drum adds alkaline detergent, sustained agitation and a hard spin…
Can You Machine Wash Rayon? (It Depends Which Rayon)
Rayon loses roughly half its strength the moment it gets wet, and three different fibres are sold under that one name. Cold water and…
Can You Machine Wash Silk? (Yes — the Detergent Is the Risk)
Most silk survives a 30 °C delicates cycle without trouble. What destroys it is alkaline or enzymatic detergent, a hot dryer and direct sun,…
Can You Machine Wash Linen? (Heat Shrinks It, Water Doesn’t)
Pure linen is one of the few fibres that gets stronger wet, so the wash is not what ruins it. Heat above 40 °C,…
Can You Machine Wash Polyester? (The Dryer Does the Damage)
Polyester is not harmed by water at any temperature a home machine reaches. It is harmed by heat above roughly 60 °C, and only…
Can You Machine Wash Felt? (One Word, Three Different Fabrics)
Felt is three different fabrics sold under one name, and they fail three different ways in a drum. The one that shrank most in…
Fibres that behave like Fabrics
Same rules, different name. If your garment blends two of these, treat it as the most fragile one.