Laundering Your Ties: Is It Really Necessary?

Keeping up with improvements to one's own personal style isn't always an easy task, and one of the most important—and often overlooked—fundamental aspects of doing so is paying attention to the proper maintenance and care of one's formal wear.  While taking your suits and dress shirts to the dry cleaners on a regular basis is a no-brainer, some components of formal wear often don't get the same treatment and attention to detail as the more obvious ones do.  Ask yourself, how often do you launder your ties or take them to the dry cleaners, if at all?  And if you don't, do you really need to start?

            The general consensus regarding the previous question is that yes, you should be cleaning your ties, but only every once in a while.  In practice, however, many gentlemen neglect this task.  If you're not wearing the same tie on a daily basis, the mantra goes, then why bother cleaning them at all if they never get dirty?

            It is true that for things like ties and pocket squares, you don't have to be as regimented in terms of cleaning them on a set schedule as you would for jackets, trousers, and dress shirts, simply because they're not going to get as dirty or wrinkled as your other items of formal wear will throughout any given week.  But even if you're the type of person who takes extra care in making sure that your ties remain relatively undisturbed, either by staying inside the office most of the day or not ordering soup with your lunch, your ties will, at some point, be more prone to wrinkling and accumulating unwanted elements from the outside.  Keeping your ties just as pristine as your other articles of formal wear can go a long way in terms of elevating your personal style.  In this piece, we'll cover the ins and outs of how you should be cleaning your ties, and when.

--How Often Should You Clean Your Ties?--

            Common logic follows the idea that in terms of formal wear, items that are closest to your person should be laundered the most frequently, while the items that are worn farther away can be cleaned less often under normal circumstances.  For example, your undergarments such as undershirts, underwear, and socks should be washed after a single use.  Dress shirts should be cleaned almost as often, while your suit jackets and trousers can last a little longer in their rotation without being taken to the cleaners.  Since ties are worn as the outermost accessory to a formal ensemble, cleaning them on a regular regimented basis isn't necessary.  However, they should be cleaned whenever they do get dirty or noticeably wrinkled.  The extra creases and folds that can form on ties over time with consistent use can make them more prone to attract dust and dirt, so being mindful at the very least of how often you wear a particular tie is important.  The same principles apply to pocket squares, as well.  While they shouldn't be washed anywhere nearly as often as your other articles of formal wear should be, they will eventually need a good cleaning every once in a while.

--The Importance of Labels--

            Although it's not a good idea to never wash your ties, washing them too often can cause even bigger problems.  While not all ties are made from the same material, many of them are made with more sensitive fabrics that require extra care during the laundering process.  So before you throw any of your ties carelessly into the washing machine or soak them in a utility sink for hours on end, it's vital that you check the labels on your ties to see if they might require any special handling instructions.  Some ties may not come with such a label at all, so if you're unsure of a tie's particular fabric, your best bet is to take it to the dry cleaners, as they will likely have a better idea of how to handle it properly.  Doing this in such a case is certainly better than taking on all the guesswork yourself.

--How To Clean Your Ties: Spot Cleaning--

            Even when we do our best to be extra careful, ties inevitably become magnets for stray coffee, oils, dust, and assortments of other everyday shrapnel.  One effective way to handle these sorts of unavoidable mishaps is simply spot cleaning your ties.  Spot cleaning, unlike other methods of washing your ties, can be done in a relatively short amount of time and doesn't require any sink basins, machines, or special detergents.  While individual methods may vary, one of the most common and popular ways to spot clean your ties is by using a small cloth dabbed with club soda.  While we'd like to think that there's some overarching scientific reason as to why club soda seems to be such an effective cleaning agent, there really isn't any solid consensus even within the scientific community.  One possible explanation is that club soda, in comparison to plain water, is slightly acidic, which gives it similar stain-lifting properties associated with diluted vinegar.  Club soda is particularly useful in spot cleaning since it won't wreak any havoc on even the most delicate materials in small amounts, so using this method should be safe even on your silk ties.  For more stubborn stains, you might want to try using a small amount of detergent or a detergent pen instead.  No matter what you use to spot clean your ties, just be sure to avoid anything that contains bleach, as this can damage more sensitive materials and erode dyes.

--Hand Washing--

            There are times when spot cleaning just won't do the job no matter how much elbow grease you throw into it.  When spot cleaning would either take too much time or not go deep enough into the fabric to get your ties looking pristine again, consider washing them by hand as an alternative.  There are, however, a few things to consider.

            Ties made from polyester, microfiber, cotton, or blended fabrics should hold up just fine if you choose to hand wash them.  Ties made from silk, on the other hand, could encounter some problems due to the fabric's delicate composition.  Silk, when it's completely submerged in water for extended periods of time, tends to lose its shape and even shrink, so hand washing is probably not the best method to use for this fabric.  If spot cleaning doesn't get all the stains out of your silk ties, consider dry cleaning them instead.

            For all other fabrics, hand washing your ties in a small amount of cold water with a sparing amount of regular detergent is your safest bet, as you'll reduce any chances that the fabric will warp or contract.  If you go the hand washing route, you'll only need to gently agitate them for a few minutes; there's no need to leave them soaking for lengthy periods of time.  Just as you would do in applying the spot cleaning method, avoid using any strong cleaning agents or bleach that might be too harsh on the colors and fabrics.

--Machine Washing--

            While you can technically launder your ties in a washing machine, we would strongly recommend against doing so.  For one, it's largely unnecessary.  Unless you have dozens upon dozens of ties that need to be laundered at the same time, it doesn't make much sense to waste all that water for articles of clothing that only need to be cleaned on occasion.  Perhaps more importantly, washing machines aren't too nice to your delicate fabrics or anything that could become tangled around the center agitator.  Because ties are much longer than they are wide, they're much more prone to entanglements with the inner workings of your washing machine as well as other clothes that may be present in a given load.  If you insist on using this method, make sure to only do small loads at a time and always use the most delicate setting available.  Drying them in a dryer is also not recommended, but if you absolutely need to save time, make sure to use the no-heat setting and take them out after 15 or 20 minutes.  Going over them briefly with a steam iron afterwards should prevent any wrinkles from forming, but pay close attention to the labels on your ties.  If it recommends dry cleaning only or doesn't specify that you can launder and dry them in a machine, it's best not to take your chances or you'll end up having to buy more ties as replacements.

--Dry Cleaning--

            There are some instances where it's best to leave things to the professionals, and this is where dry cleaning comes into play.  While taking your ties to the dry cleaners isn't always necessary, since spot cleaning and hand washing are usually enough to keep your ties in pristine shape, it is certainly easier and more precise.  If you've been regularly accustomed to formal wear to any degree, you've likely already found a dry cleaner that you can trust and that is consistent in terms of delivering quality service.  Because they've been dealing with formal wear on a professional basis, they're going to have more combined experience than an individual, in which case they'll know how to treat each of your ties properly without taking risks on any trial and error.

            Understand, however, that certain chemicals dry cleaners use might harm more delicate fabrics.  In any case they'll likely be aware of this, but it never hurts to ask them questions about gentler cleaning agents, if not for anything but your own peace of mind.

            Regardless of how you choose to clean your ties, remember that it's not something that has to be done with any sort of regularity.  Keeping an eye out for spots, stains, and wrinkles—and cleaning your ties as needed—should do the trick, so you can focus more on searching for the right ties and the right formal wear to ratchet up your personal style.  Whether you're looking to add more ties to your wardrobe or still in search of that perfect custom suit for the ones you already have, Enzo Custom has you covered.