The Met Costume Institute's Former Head of Conservation Taught Us How to Store Clothes

New York Times

5 days ago

Before you store your heirlooms, be sure to clean them.
Insects eat your stains, Paulocik told us. 'It's a source of nutrition for them,' she said. So cleaning your clothes is one of the best defenses against pests.
Paulocik has a particular word of advice for anyone storing a wedding gown. Many brides have their wedding gowns dry-cleaned after the ceremony. And because a wedding gown is tricky to clean, a dry cleaner will often end up spot-cleaning it.
The problem? White wine stains may not show up for a week. In such cases, the dress will actually develop visible stains after it has been theoretically cleaned. 'It's a good idea if the bride can remember if she spilled anything that might later cause a stain and alert the dry cleaner,' Paulocik told us. Generally, the longer the stain sits, the harder it is to remove, so your best bet is to catch it early.
For more information on cleaning unique materials, Paulocik recommends checking the Canadian Conservation Institute's website. It's a treasure trove of detailed information and tips on caring for specific materials, including leather, fur, metals, feathers, and more.
And for shorter-term storage, Paulocik said she'd also get rid of any accoutrements from a dry-cleaning sesh. 'The worst kind of plastic bags are the dry-cleaning bags,' she said (more on that later). So take your garment out ASAP. Metal hangers, which are typically used at the dry cleaner, aren't supportive, and they can rust and stain clothes over time. 'I have seen the damage,' Paulocik told us. Similarly, safety pins and straight pins (two other common dry-cleaning tools) can eventually rust.
Once your garment is ready for storage, you'll want to decide whether to hang your clothes or store them in a box.
Avoid hanging items that may stretch, such as knits, heavily beaded garments, or anything cut on the bias (diagonally with the grain of the fabric).
However, some clothes are better off when they're hung. At the Met, the conservators would 'often hang some of the more complex garments because placing them in a box would crush or create damage to the structure of the garment,' Paulocik told us. 'We would custom make interior supports for garments such as Charles James gowns or some of the more contemporary designers like Alexander McQueen. That often involved a cotton twill tape waistband sewn into the garment to take some of the weight off the piece.'
If you do decide to hang your clothes, you should avoid storing anything in dry-cleaning bags or garment bags made from PEVA or PVC. 'You don't want PVC near your clothes.'
The goal is to avoid anything that's going to break down over the long term. As these 'bad plastics' age, they off-gas plasticizers. While plasticizers make the bags malleable and soft, in time they become 'really oily and greasy.' Instead, consider garment bags made of cotton or muslin, which is breathable but also protects the clothes from light and dust. These bags last forever, Paulocik said. All you need to do is wash them occasionally.
Paulocik suggests using a garment bag made from cotton, instead of plastic. This one (from an archival shop Paulocik recommends) comes in several sizes, so it can accommodate everything from christening gowns to wedding dresses. Buy from Hollinger Metal Edge
You can also consider Tyvek garment bags, which the Met Costume Institute has occasionally used, according to Paulocik. Tyvek is made from high-density polyethylene, a kind of plastic thought to have a much lower rate of off-gassing than materials like PVC film. Crucially, it keeps water out while allowing vapor to pass. If you do choose to hang your clothes in plastic, check on the bag every six months to make sure it isn't starting to yellow or get sticky (which means the plasticizers are breaking down and migrating to the surface).
In addition to avoiding wire hangers, which can warp clothes or rust, avoid wooden hangers. Over time, wooden hangers can off-gas volatile organic compounds, which can eventually weaken a textile or yellow it.
Instead, Paulocik recommends using plastic hangers made from either polypropylene or polyethylene.
Wire hangers can rust, and wooden hangers can off-gas volatile organic compounds, yellowing garments over time. Paulocik recommends using polypropylene hangers instead. And to add structure, you can wrap hangers with quilt batting or muslin. Buy from Hollinger Metal Edge
While you probably won't have a garment that needs to have a waistband sewn in, structured clothes, like suiting and hand bags, may need additional support to maintain their shape over time. You can cover a hanger with quilt batting or muslin to add structure in the shoulder area. Then the hanger is 'kind of customized to the garment,' Paulocik said.
If you're hanging a suit, for example, Paulocik also recommends stuffing the arms of the jacket with archival tissue paper to bolster the overall shape. You can essentially make '[a sausage] out of tissue and stick it up the arm,' she said. Don't raid your supply of everyday tissue paper for this task, since it can yellow and deteriorate over time.
Many pieces may be better off stored in a box. To do so, before you pack the garment away, Paulocik suggests bolstering it with and wrapping it in acid-free tissue paper. 'Try to avoid folding as much as possible. And, where you have to, support those folds with acid-free tissue,' she said.
When you store a garment in a box, Paulocik recommends wrapping it in and bolstering it with acid-free tissue paper. Buy from Hollinger Metal Edge
If you don't want to use acid-free tissue, you can alternatively use plain white cotton sheets, as long as they've been washed and are clean. At the museum, Paulocik would also place a clear plastic sleeve on top of the box, with a picture of the object for quick reference. (Labeling an item — perhaps with its history, such as the date the item was used, who wore it, and for what occasion — can be a good idea at home, too. That way, if any descendants discover your box decades later, they'll know what it is.)
It may be tempting to put your packed clothes in a cardboard box, especially since cardboard is cheap and breathable. But like other problematic materials, cardboard degrades and becomes acidic, off-gassing organic volatile compounds (which causing yellowing), Paulocik told us.
Paulocik instead recommends storing garments in an acid-free box with acid-free tissue paper. You can also use a box made from ​​corrugated polypropylene (sometimes called Coroplast). Such boxes are admittedly expensive, but they're also inert, stable, water-resistant, and dust-proof.
Skip the cardboard, which degrades and becomes acidic. Instead, Paulocik recommends packing textiles in acid-free boxes. The Hollinger boxes come in several different sizes. Buy from Hollinger Metal Edge
If it seems overwhelming to buy all of the long-term-storage items individually, consider getting Hollinger Metal Edge's Gown/Garment/Textile Preservation Kits. The kits come in several sizes and include everything you need for preservation. (Hollinger's Keepsake and Deep preservation kits are sized for wedding gowns, but there are other boxes designed for christening outfits, uniforms, and quilts.) 'The preservation kits are worth it if people just want everything together,' Paulocik said.
Overwhelmed by the prospect of buying the items you need individually? These preservation kits come in multiple sizes, and they include everything you need to store heirloom textiles, from uniforms to wedding gowns. Buy from Hollinger Metal Edge
And for anyone who opts to use a preservation company (usually geared toward wedding-gown storage) instead of DIY methods, Paulocik recommends checking on the gown periodically to make sure it's okay. She said she's seen 'too many brides' with horror stories of poorly preserved dresses.
The space where you're storing the clothes should be spick-and- span. 'I would clean the area by vacuuming and wiping things down with plain soap and water or Lysol,' Paulocik said. She said she would also avoid using mothballs, which are a pesticide.
'In museums, we monitor the storage areas and place sticky traps to see if any insects are flying around and what species they are,' Paulocik said. And this is something you can also do at home. To catch clothing moths, put traps at head height, and to trap carpet beetles, put them on the floor at the side of the doorway. These two types of critters find textiles particularly alluring.
Sticky traps, like the ones from archival-storage-company Hollinger, can help you monitor for pests in the area where you're storing clothing. $29 from Hollinger Metal Edge
Humidity and heat are other enemies of long-term storage, so it's important to maintain a good temperature wherever you're storing your clothes. Attics and basements are 'really terrible' for long-term storage, Paulocik said, unless they're climate-controlled. The attic gets too hot and dry, while the basement is too damp and humid — conditions that can accelerate deterioration.
People with no other choice sometimes use dehumidifiers to pull out the moisture and fans to circulate the air, Paulocik noted. But 'if your pieces are important,' she said, 'I would store objects in an area of your house that is climate-controlled and then check them periodically. For most people, it's on the main floor in closets or under beds.'
While heat can be detrimental to garments, in some cases the cold can be a garment's saving grace.
Paulocik told us that the Royal Ontario Museum had big, walk-in freezers. They were often a garment's first stop when it entered the collection, because the cold would kill any potential moths and moth larvae.
Paulocik uses this technique for her cashmere sweaters. First, she puts the sweater in a zip-top bag with a little piece of cotton fabric 'to absorb any moisture created when the textile is frozen and thawed.' How long you leave it in the freezer depends on several factors, such as the type of freezer you have (chest freezers tend to be colder) and how many things are in it. 'But usually a week is a good amount of time,' she said. (The technique also works for buggy books!) Wirecutter editor Megan Beauchamp panicked during a carpet beetle infestation and put her wedding dress in the freezer in a zip-top bag. It turns out this wasn't such a terrible idea. Megan Beauchamp/Wirecutter
Paulocik's advice was a relief to editor Megan Beauchamp, who recently put her wedding dress in the freezer after a carpet beetle infestation (and a panicked Reddit deep-dive). Yet now the dress has been in there for a month, and she isn't sure what to do next.
Paulocik said that Megan should now take her wedding dress out of the freezer and inspect it — especially at the seams — for any dead carpet beetles or their frass (excrement). Then pick them off and have the dress cleaned. 'Carpet beetles are less of an issue with wedding dresses unless there is a proteinaceous component to the gown,' Paulocik noted. She also warned that there are some materials that shouldn't be frozen, such as ivory.
Long-term storage should start with a clean garment (remember, insects feast on stains!), as well as a clean, climate-controlled storage area — on one of the main floors of your house (rather than in a basement or an attic). After garments are wrapped in and bolstered with acid-free tissue paper (especially at any folds), most of them can be stored in acid-free boxes or boxes made from corrugated polypropylene.
Never store a garment in a regular cardboard box or a plastic dry-cleaning bag, which will degrade over time. And be sure to take out safety pins or straight pins, which can rust or cause stains. You may also want to place a few sticky traps in the storage area, and check them occasionally for signs of pests.
And hey, if you do a good enough job now, maybe in a few thousand years your wedding gown will be on display at the Met.
This article was edited by Hannah Rimm and Katie Okamoto. Despite what the care label tells you, skip the dry cleaner and hand-wash your cashmere at home instead.
Does that delicate garment have to be dry-cleaned, or can you wash it at home? Check out our roundup of all the fabrics that can skip a trip to the cleaners.
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I'm a writer on the discovery team covering travel products, along with related news, fun facts, and tips.
What I Cover
I've covered luggage and travel gear for Wirecutter for over a decade. In that time, I've covered various topics related to this coverage and sometimes far afield from it.