It happens in every home at the end of September: you open the wardrobe and the swimwear is still sitting in front of the jumpers. The seasonal wardrobe changeover is one of those jobs you put off for weeks and then rush through, bundling everything into a single box. The bill arrives in April: yellowed T-shirts, wool full of moth holes and creases that will never come out. Done with a bit of method, though, it takes one afternoon and your clothes come out exactly as you put them away.
When to do the seasonal wardrobe changeover
Don't look at the calendar, look at the weather. The moment arrives when overnight lows stay below 15 °C for a full week: in colder regions that is usually between late September and mid-October; on the coast and further south, sometimes not until November. Pick a dry, breezy day: you will need it to air the wardrobe and to get the washed clothes completely dry. And keep a transitional set out of the box (a sweatshirt, two T-shirts, a thin shirt): October still throws up the odd 25 °C day.
Set everything up before you empty a thing
You need very little: four clear surfaces (the bed will do), laundry bags, breathable boxes and a damp cloth. Before you put anything back, empty the wardrobe completely and wipe the shelves and inside walls with a lightly dampened cloth, then dry them. Dust and fibre residue are the first invitation to moths.
The six steps
- Split everything into four piles: stays out, goes away, needs mending and leaves the house (donate or resell). If you haven't worn something all summer, don't store it: out it goes.
- Wash everything you are storing, even the pieces that look clean. Sweat and sun cream are invisible when you take a garment off, but after six months they turn into yellow rings and a magnet for moths.
- Dry it all the way through. A single slightly damp item inside a box leaves the whole contents smelling musty.
- Fold or hang according to the fabric. Knitwear, wool and cashmere always folded: on a hanger they stretch out at the shoulders. Linen shirts, jackets and dresses on hangers, ideally wooden ones.
- Use containers that breathe: cotton or non-woven garment bags and cardboard boxes with a few holes. Avoid sealed plastic bags and vacuum packing for wool and down: the compression crushes the fibre and the moisture stays trapped inside.
- Label the boxes and put whatever you won't touch until May on the top shelf or under the bed. Writing 'swimwear + linen' on a box saves you half an hour in April.
How to protect stored clothes from moths
Moths go for dirty natural fibres: wool, silk and cashmere. Mothballs add nothing these days except the smell. Lavender sachets work better, along with cedar wood balls (revived with a light sanding every couple of months) and cloves wrapped in a handkerchief. Never let them touch the fabric directly, as they can stain it. Halfway through winter, open one box and check how things are doing: ten minutes that save a jumper.
The winter clothes coming out of the box
After six months shut away, jumpers and coats need half an hour of air before you wear them: hang them in the bathroom while you shower, or outside on a dry day, and the creases relax on their own. If there is a dog or a cat in the house, dark wool comes out of storage covered in hair and lint; a reusable lint remover clears it in two passes and saves you buying sticky rolls all winter. There are more ideas for keeping the house in order in the Velia Select range.
The mistakes that cost the most
- Storing stained garments with the idea that you'll wash them later: the stain sets and becomes irreversible.
- Leaving the boxes in a damp storage room or garage: a high shelf inside the house is far better.
- Keeping clothes inside the dry cleaner's plastic cover: it traps the solvents and yellows the fabric.
- Putting off repairs. The hem that has come undone today will still be undone in April, and you won't wear the garment either.
Done properly once, the wardrobe changeover gets shorter by itself: the following year you have fewer clothes, you know where everything is, and you open the wardrobe to find only the things you actually wear.