How to Care for Cotton
Henriette Steffensen Copenhagen and CARL by Steffensen create functional and casual designs in organic cotton. With the right care, these garments can last season after season.
WASH
A lot of people throw their clothes in the washer more than they need to, simply out of habit. Keep in mind that over washing your cotton clothes wears them down, impacts your utility bills, and impacts the environment.
Assess your clothes after wearing them and determine if they really need a wash or not. If they have a small stain, they can be spot treated with a damp cloth and a drop of laundry detergent. If your clothes are wrinkly or out of shape, try shaking them and hanging them outside in the fresh air.
You can machine wash your cotton garment at your preferred wash cycle on a low temperature. Our cotton collection can be washed at up to 40° but we recommend that you wash at 30° max. We recommend using an eco-friendly laundry detergent and avoiding fabric softeners. Some fabric softeners have been linked with negative health and environmental impacts, so avoiding these is a benefit to you and our planet. If you do choose to use one, we recommend using eco-labeled and certified products. Read more here.
DRYING
Tumble drying is harsh on cotton and result in a shorter life cycle for your clothes. We recommend avoiding the dryer and hanging your garments to dry instead. To avoid wrinkles you can hang your shirts and dresses to dry on a hanger instead of a laundry rack. If needed, you can iron your cotton items at the cotton setting.
When you avoid the dryer you save unnecessary wear on your clothes, a high utility bill, and negative impact on the environment.
STAIN REMOVE
We recommend spot treating your clothes as soon as you get a stain on them, as waiting can make the stain harder to remove. To treat a stain, use a damp cloth and a drop of laundry detergent. If the stain persist you can soak the area and leave a small amount of laundry detergent overnight. Make sure you seal the clothes in a plastic bag to keep it from drying and avoid using colored soaps as they can dye light fabric.
REPAIR
If you accidentally tear a whole in your cotton garment, attempt to repair them instead of throwing them out. In many cases, tears can be sewn together seamlessly. The easiest way to repair a whole is to sew it from the inside of the garment with a thin needle and a regular sewing thread in a matching color – if you are going for a seamless look. Be careful not to tighten the thread too much, as this can cause the fabric to clump together. Try instead to sew multiple times in the same spot to ensure a solid finish.
If you, for other reasons, do not get to wear your garment, we encourage you to donate it to a friend, family, or charity of your choice.
If you are interested in reading our other care guides, we have written both a fleece guide and a jersey guide.
Feel free to write us at kundeservice@hscph.dk if you have any questions about care or repair of your cotton clothes – we are happy to help!
Do you want to dive into the HSCPH universe and get inspiration, facts about our collections, the different materials and the EU-based production? Find all journal posts here.