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Storing suit in suit supply garment bag. Is it okay?

Temple90

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As the title states, I have accumulated 3 suits and 3 sport coats over the years and all are from suit supply. I store them in my closet individually in the suit supply garment bags that they came in with the hangers they came with. I add a cedar ring on top of each hanger and brush before putting away the suit/jacket. I do have a garment bag from container store for multiple suits, but figured storing each suit individually was a better idea.
Is this a good method of storing or is there a better method?
 

dieworkwear

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I'm not familiar with what Suitsupply garment bags look like, but very generally speaking, you want garment bags that are made from pure, natural cotton. Ones that are made from synthetic materials, such as plastic, can off-gas over time and ruin your clothes. You may also want to be careful that a cedar ring isn't touching your clothes, as that can sometimes stain them. And while brushing is good, good dry cleaning is even better. The point of storing things in garment bags is that you protect your garments from clothes moths, especially in the off-season when you won't be touching them too much. But the only way to make sure moth eggs aren't on your garment is to dry clean them (ideally at a good dry cleaner).

The Container Store sells natural cotton garment bags for pretty cheap. You can also get them specialty vendors such as The Hanger Project or high-end dry cleaners such as Rave FabriCARE.
 

JGARY

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Has anyone ever actually experienced the “off-gas” phenomena? I have 10 or so plastic/cotton hybrid bags from the Container Store (all cotton back with plastic front) that I’ve been using for a decade or so without any issues. Is it more a problem with all plastic bags? I only buy the all cotton type now because the price is about the same and because I’ve read the warnings about the plastics on here. But I just wonder if this is really that big of an issue in the wild. Maybe my day of reckoning is coming...
 

dieworkwear

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Has anyone ever actually experienced the “off-gas” phenomena? I have 10 or so plastic/cotton hybrid bags from the Container Store (all cotton back with plastic front) that I’ve been using for a decade or so without any issues. Is it more a problem with all plastic bags? I only buy the all cotton type now because the price is about the same and because I’ve read the warnings about the plastics on here. But I just wonder if this is really that big of an issue in the wild. Maybe my day of reckoning is coming...

Plastics definitely off-gas. Whether that'll affect your garments, I suppose, is up for debate. One museum textile restorer I interviewed told me that museum artifacts are always stored in pure cotton bags, not poly-blends, for this reason. Since the prices are the same, I've just always gone with the safer route.
 

paulraphael

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Some plastics off-gas. Polyester, polypropylene, and polyethylene do not. These materials are used in archival preservation of art materials all the time. You'd want to know what the bag is made from. If it smells like a shower curtain, it's a vinyl compound and definitely off-gasses. These are not plastics you want in contact with anything valuable for long stretches of time.

The other question I have is if it's important for wool to have ventilation. I'd be curious to know anyone at the fabric mills has an opinion on this. Or someone who works in textile conservation.
 

dieworkwear

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Some plastics off-gas. Polyester, polypropylene, and polyethylene do not. These materials are used in archival preservation of art materials all the time. You'd want to know what the bag is made from. If it smells like a shower curtain, it's a vinyl compound and definitely off-gasses. These are not plastics you want in contact with anything valuable for long stretches of time.

The other question I have is if it's important for wool to have ventilation. I'd be curious to know anyone at the fabric mills has an opinion on this. Or someone who works in textile conservation.

That's good information, thanks.

I'm not a textile conservator, but I once interviewed one for a story about how to deal with clothes moths. She's worked with art museums and historical societies on various projects, and has written books on textile conservation.

She said that, on offseasons, she sometimes stores her clothes in tupperware bins with a cloth sheet sandwiched between the lid and the bin for extra protection. So, I imagine breathability isn't that important.

This is her organization, fwiw.

 

paulraphael

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That's good to know. FWIW, most tupperware and similar containers polypropylene or polyethylene.
 

dieworkwear

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That's good to know. FWIW, most tupperware and similar containers polypropylene or polyethylene.

Yes, she noted that to me as well. I misspoke here about plastics, but I assume most people aren't in a position to know the difference in a store. My sense, from talking to her, is that most people should just be buying pure cotton garment bags for long term storage. (Assuming they use garment bags, anyway, and not Tupperware bins).
 

JGARY

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The hybrid plastic/cotton bags from Container Store are made of PEVA, or polyethylene vinyl acetate. I’ve seen PEVA described as a less-toxic alternative to PVC. I’ll leave it up to the experts to tell us whether that’s true or not, and whether PEVA off-gasses. As I’ve said, I’ve never personally had an issue with these bags over 10+ years of service.

It’s fascinating what rabbit holes this forum can take you down...
 

paulraphael

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I don't know much about PEVA. It's not one of the plastics that you see used in conservation. But clicking around for a few minutes online suggests that it's more stable than PVC and some other suspects.

This isn't a rabbit hole I'm inclined to go too far down. If you really wanted to preserve your clothes like artworks or antiquities, you wouldn't do things to them like, say, wrap them around your body and rub them against taxi seats.
 

JGARY

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Point taken. Taxi seats off-gas like crazy.
 

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