Simplify your laundry!

Posted on 11/01/2013 by admin

One of our resolutions for 2013 is to give our customers and followers the best tips to make your laundry easier and more effective. If you’re still one of those people who loves to do your laundry at home (really?) here’s some straightforward advice to help you save time and energy – by sorting your clothes correctly before washing.

First, check the care labels. Put any garments that need special treatment (hand washing, no tumble dry, delicate fabric, etc) in their own pile. For the rest of the laundry, sort it by colour. Make sure that you separate white garments (if you want to keep them white!) from reds and bright colours, as these can leak into the rest of your clothing. In addition, to avoid getting fluff on your garments consider washing towels in a separate load.

Turn all the clothing right side out, unless the label instructs otherwise. Do up all the buttons to avoid damaging other garments and check the pockets – to avoid nasty surprises (like pens), and you may even find some extra cash!

Check each item for stains – to pre-treat them before laundering or clean them further before drying. If not, you risk setting the stain forever. If you find any rips or loose threads, it’s better to fix them before cleaning as it could get worse in the washing machine.

Of course, the LR team is more than happy to help make your laundry easier, simpler and greener – so if all this sounds like a chore, let us take care of it for you!

Give a boost to your laundry with baking soda!

Posted on 29/11/2012 by admin

In previous posts we have talked about the natural cleaning qualities of lemon and vinegar, which help us take care of our laundry without harming the environment. Today we’ll talk about the special properties of baking soda – useful for more than just baking!

Thanks to its alkali qualities which raise the pH balance of water, adding 125 ml of baking soda to your washing machine’s rinse cycle will boost the detergent’s ingredients resulting in cleaner and whiter clothes. It will also act as a a deodoriser to remove unpleasant odours, and as a natural fabric softener – ideal for those that are sensitive to chemicals. You can combine the baking powder with warm water to create a paste which will help to remove grease and heavy tea and coffee stains. Simply rub the paste onto the stain and let it sit for an hour before washing the garment as normal.

Switch to baking soda, lemon juice and vinegar for a greener way to do laundry!

Say goodbye to the fuzz on your clothes!

Posted on 22/11/2012 by admin

How many times have you pulled a sweater you loved out from the last season and it’s full of fluff and bobbles? Especially underneath your arms! Not nice, is it?

One effective method of getting rid of fabric pilling quickly is to use a disposable razor. Simply lay out your garment flat on a table, extend the sleeves and hold the fabric taut. Then, carefully shave off the fuzz on the garment – moving the razor in the same direction as the weave. Remove the accumulated pill from the shaver as you go. Just one important tip: never press down on the fabric and shave very carefully, especially around buttons and seams, as you could accidentally cut into the fabric.

Care for your clothes with lemon juice!

Posted on 16/11/2012 by admin

We’re always looking for eco-friendly alternatives for your laundry and today we’re going to discover how lemons can help to fight stains and whiten your clothes.

The citric acid in lemon juice can act as a natural stain remover, helping to break down stains such as fruit juice, rust and mildew. Simply pour some lemon juice onto the stain and rub with salt. Leave the garment in the sun to dry for a few hours and then wash as normal, preferably in hot water. You can also use lemon juice as an effective whitener, in place of chlorine bleach; just add half a pint of lemon juice to your cycle along with your usual detergent. If the garment is very dingy, you might want to soak it in a sink with some hot water and lemon slices and leave it overnight. Then wash as usual and allow it to air dry. Your whites will be brilliantly white and lemony fresh!

Vinegar, an eco-friendly laundry softener

Posted on 09/11/2012 by admin

Not only is it great with chips, white wine vinegar makes an excellent alternative to commercially available fabric softeners! Standard fabric softeners work by coating your clothes with a layer of chemicals to reduce static and increase the smoothness of the fabric, but you can use vinegar to achieve the same effect in a low-cost, eco-friendly way.

Adding about 100ml of white vinegar to the rinse cycle will soften your laundry and remove soap and detergent residues. It also prevents yellowing on the clothes, attacks mildew and the acidity should help to reduce static on your clothes. The vinegar smell will disappear as the clothes go through rinse and drying cycle.

Restore your down coat to its puffy glory!

Posted on 01/11/2012 by admin

As the temperature plummets, we’ve started to see lots of padded down coats and fleeces from our customers. These are fantastic for keeping warm in, but once they’ve been washed it can be tricky to puff them back up to their former fluffy selves – the down filling gets wet and compacts into a dense layer, leaving the coat looking thin and sad, and reducing the insulation it provides.

Our secret weapon for re-puffing up your down coat? Tennis balls! After squeezing out the excess water, we place a clean tennis ball in the dryer with the coat and dry on a low heat. The ball bounces around inside the dryer, fluffing up the feathers inside the coat and restoring it to its lovely, puffy glory. Game, set and match LaundryRepublic!

Give the scent you want to your laundry!

Posted on 19/10/2012 by admin

Harvey Nichols’ Knightsbridge store has been wrapped with a huge ball of wool yarn accompanied of knitting needles, to support this year’s Campaign for Wool. This innovative initiative has inspired us to look for ideas involving wool! While searching, I found a post at the household weblog “One Good Thing” by Jillee which suggests a very interesting use of wool yarns. Instead of using fabric softener, why not make wool balls and add some drops of essential oil to dry your laundry more efficiently, while giving the scent you want to your clothes.

How? It’s easy! Just wrap the wool yarn around your fingers around 20 times, remove quickly the strands off your fingers and wrap across the middle of those loops another 20 times. When it’s the size of a tennis ball, cut the yarn and tuck the end inside, making sure the ball won’t unravel! Put the ball inside a stocking, use a synthetic string to secure it and add the next balls. When ready, just wash them on high heat. Ready to give a fresh nice smell to your laundry?

Time to pull your coats and wellies out of the closet!

Posted on 05/10/2012 by admin

Summer is already behind us (but was it really summer?) and we are storing our seasonal clothes away. Here are some top tips to help you protect your garments and leave them ready for next year!

1. Think for a moment: which items do you want to keep for next summer? If you have a garment you don’t wear any more, donate it! We’ll collect your unwanted clothes for the disability charity Scope to sell in their shops – over £7,000 so far this year!

2. Dry clean or wash your clothes, to preserve them and stop any stains setting in over the winter

3. Sort and pack items by type, in separate storage containers labelled to make it easier to find them next year. Make sure they’re airtight!

4. Place cedar chips in a old sock and put it in the container to keep the bugs away. Scent savers, such as rosemary or lavender, also repel them.

5. Finally, heap the containers under the bed or the higher shelves of the closet, to keep your clothes clean and fresh, ready for the next summer season!

Inside a dry cleaning machine

Posted on 20/09/2012 by admin

A dry cleaning machine is best described as a mixture of a large domestic washing machine and a tumble dryer. The core of the machine is a perforated drum, commonly known as the basket, which has a capacity of 20-80lb and rotates within a shell. The clothes are loaded in the basket, while the shell holds the solvent.

During the wash cycle, the chamber is filled one third with solvent whilst rotating the clothing inside. The temperature used is slightly cooler than a common washing machine and a typical cycle lasts between 8-15 minutes, depending on fabric type and level of cleaning required.

When the cycle finishes, the solvent is drained out and sent to a distillation unit to separate any water from the solvent and remove impurities that may have been transferred by the garments. The garments are then rinsed with the distilled solvent to prevent discolouration.

After the rinse cycle, the machine starts the drying cycle, where the garments are tumbled in warm air and the last traces of solvent are removed. Finally, the garments pass through a deodorising cycle which allows the circulation of cool outside air to leave them fresh and ready for pressing and finishing.

Decoding Laundry symbols

Posted on 29/08/2012 by admin

No one likes doing their laundry – it’s a chore, but it needs to be done (although it’s one that we can make much easier for you!). Knowing what the care symbols mean is a good start – cleaning something in the wrong way or at the wrong temperature can result in disaster.

Here’s a basic guide – we hope it’s useful!

Washing Instructions –

Bleaching Instructions –

Ironing Instructions –

Tumble Drying instructions

Dry Cleaning Instructions –

If the garment is delicate or you are not sure which procedure is best for your clothes, hand it over to our experienced cleaning team for specialist treatment. LR is always happy to help!

Source: Home Laundering Consultative Council

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