Washing (vs dry cleaning) RLBL linen pants

[sdash]

I recently got a pair of all-linen pants that are "dry clean only." Since linen washes well in my experience, I wondered if I could wash (or perhaps hand wash) and air dry contra the instructions. I searched the SF archives and found mixed advice; I'm not too concerned with shrink, so the most convincing argument (to me) for following the instructions exactly is that a "dress" waistband can respond poorly to machine washing. But obviously I'm not knowledgeable enough to know how risky it would be, etc.

So I thought I would try a different tack and ask the board if anyone has experience (positive or negative) washing this particular pair of pants, since I imagine it's somewhat common:

The make is Ralph Lauren Polo Blue Label, "Regent" model, partially lined, with a complicated-looking waistband; I've recently seen a number of identical or very similar pairs on the B&S forum. (I picked these up at a discount store myself, so I'm guessing they're identical...)

Any thoughts? And thanks for your help.

 

[PinkPantser]

I believe you're right in being worried about damaging the waist band more so than damaging the fabric. I don't see how hand washing could hurt, but I would not put any pants with a "dress" waist in a wash cycle. If they were my pants I would follow the tag and dry clean them once at the beginning of the season and spot clean as necessary.

 

[ed1234]

Be warned - I had a great pair of Gieves & Hawkes linen trousers and they were washed (nb - not by me) and shrunk. Having got them let out (figured they'd be good for schleping about trousers even if not for anything else) and being assured that once linen had shrunk, it could shrink no more, I washed it and it promptly shrunk beyond repair.

 

[sdash]

Thanks for the advice. Maybe I should be worried more about shrink than I am. (I have a number of pairs of linen pants that haven't shrunk at all in the wash, but then again they're explicitly washable, so maybe the fabric was pre-shrunk...)

I would be happy if I could dry clean them irregularly and spot clean the rest of the time, but it seems like that would be hard to pull off w/ linen pants -- since they don't air out as well as wool and need to be ironed between virtually every wearing; I'd worry about baking the run-of-the-mill dirt/sweat/etc right into the fibers.

If I do decide to wash these, I'll definitely report back. But for now I'm still pondering my options...

 

[TheDryCleaner]

Linen is a fabric that generally can be washed without issues. The problem may be that the goods used by RL may not have been pre-shrunk.

Many garment makers tend to put in a dry clean only label into garments so that the garment is not thought of as "discount" and washable at home.

We have washed many dry clean only, linen items at our shop, but we have used professional "wet cleaning" equipment and residual moisture dryers. These garments generally get steamed out on tension pressing equipment which will bring the garment back to it's correct size.

I would be cautious to through these trousers into a home washing machine as you may end up with a less than perfect result, and pants that may be somewhat smaller!

Best,
Jerry Pozniak
www.drycleaningtips.com

 

[sho'nuff]

if you dont mind a small shrinkage, go ahead and do a gentle cold hand wash.

fill a wash basin with cold water, a tiny bit of detergent, and use your hands in an updown puffy churn of the pant, no circular motion , or hard agitation of motion.

for about 5-7 minutes.


drain, and fill back up for a rinse in same hand motion.

lay flat on surface to dry.


easy

 

[Mujib]

I hand washed (cold water) my RL linen pants and something funky happened to them. Anyone know what this is and if it can be repaired? This is all along the creases. Does the fact that they are lined have anything to do with it?