The Complete Guide to Caring for Your Knitwear

Your knitwear collection is an investment: and with the right care, every piece can look beautiful for years. Whether you're maintaining a delicate cashmere cardigan or a sturdy cable-knit sweater, these expert tips will help you keep your knitwear in pristine condition.

Washing: Gentle Is Always Better

The number one rule of knitwear care is to wash less frequently. Knitted fabrics don't need cleaning after every wear: airing your pieces between uses keeps them fresh without the stress of washing.

When it's time to wash, hand washing is ideal. Fill a basin with cool water and a small amount of gentle detergent or wool wash. Submerge the garment, gently press and squeeze (never wring or twist), and rinse until the water runs clear.

Machine washing tip: If the care label allows it, use a mesh laundry bag, select the delicate or wool cycle, and always wash in cold water. Turn the garment inside out to reduce pilling and protect surface details.

Drying: Patience Pays Off

Never hang knitwear to dry: the weight of the water will stretch the fabric out of shape. Instead, lay the garment flat on a clean, dry towel. Gently reshape it to its original dimensions while it's still damp, smoothing out any wrinkles or bunching.

Speed it up safely: Roll the garment in a dry towel first to absorb excess moisture, then transfer to a fresh flat surface. Keep it away from direct sunlight and heat sources, which can cause fading and fiber damage. For a step-by-step drying method, see our dedicated guide on how to dry a knit sweater without stretching it out.

Dealing with Pilling

Pilling is a natural occurrence with knitwear, especially in areas of friction like the underarms and sides. It's not a sign of poor quality: it simply means the shorter fibers are working their way to the surface.

Use a fabric shaver or a fine-tooth comb designed for knitwear to gently remove pills. Work in one direction with light pressure. Regular depilling keeps your pieces looking new and is well worth the few minutes it takes. Browse our luxury knitwear collection: every piece is crafted from premium yarns designed to pill less over time.

Storage: Fold, Don't Hang

Always fold knitwear for storage: hanging creates shoulder bumps and stretches the fabric over time. Store folded pieces in a cool, dry place with good air circulation.

Seasonal storage: For pieces you won't wear for several months, clean them first (moths are attracted to body oils), then store in breathable cotton bags or acid-free tissue paper. Cedar blocks or lavender sachets are natural moth deterrents that also keep your wardrobe smelling lovely.

The Right Products for Knitwear Care

Standard laundry products are too harsh for most knit fibres. A specialist wool and delicates wash uses a pH-neutral formula that cleans without stripping the natural scales from the yarn. You do not need a different product per fibre type: one good delicates wash handles wool, cotton knit, bamboo, and silk-blend pieces equally well. Apply a small amount (5ml is enough for a hand-wash) to cool water, submerge the garment, and agitate gently with your hands rather than wringing or twisting.

A fabric comb or cashmere comb removes the surface fibre pills that form through friction wear. Run it lightly across the pilled area in one direction only. Do not press hard or you will pull loops from the knit structure. A fabric shaver (electric pilling remover) is faster for heavily pilled areas but requires a light touch on open-stitch and fine-gauge knits where the rotating head can catch an open loop and pull a run.

Cedar blocks or lavender sachets stored with your folded knitwear repel moths without the chemical smell of mothballs. Replace them every six months. If you find moth damage, freeze the affected piece in a sealed bag for 72 hours to kill any remaining eggs before laundering and repairing.

How Often Should You Wash Knitwear

Less often than you think. Knitwear benefits from infrequent washing. The agitation of washing gradually weakens the yarn structure and increases the risk of stretching or felting. A fine-gauge ribbed top worn next to skin may need washing every three to four wears. A cable-knit sweater worn over a base layer can go 8 to 10 wears before a full wash. Between wears, lay the piece flat in a clean dry space or hang it loosely to air for a few hours. Spot-clean minor marks with a damp cloth and a drop of delicates wash rather than laundering the whole garment. For guidance on what to wear as a base layer under knitwear, see our complete layering guide.

Odour from natural fibres often disappears after airing. If a piece smells stale, fold it and place it in a sealed bag in the freezer overnight. This eliminates bacteria without the stress of a full wash.

Blocking: Restoring Shape After Washing

Blocking is the process of reshaping a damp knit piece back to its original dimensions. After washing, lay the garment flat on a clean dry towel and press out excess water gently without wringing. Then transfer it to a second dry towel or a mesh drying rack and ease it back into shape with your hands: pull the hem to the correct length, align the side seams, smooth the sleeves to the right width. Let it dry completely in this position, away from direct heat or sunlight.

For a severely misshapen piece, a clothes steamer used at a safe distance (10 to 15 cm) can relax the fibre and make reshaping easier. Hold the steamer above the fabric rather than pressing it against the knit. Never use a hot iron directly on knitwear.

Quick Fixes for Common Issues

• Stretched neckline: Dampen the area with cool water, reshape with your hands, and lay flat to dry. For detailed flat-drying steps, see our guide to drying knit sweaters without stretching.
• Snags: Never cut a snagged thread: instead, use a blunt needle to gently push it through to the inside of the garment
• Static cling: Lightly mist with water or run a metal hanger over the surface to neutralize static
• Wrinkles: Steam rather than iron: hold a steamer several inches from the fabric and let the steam relax the fibers naturally

Caring for knitwear doesn't require special skills: just a little patience and the right approach. These simple habits will keep your favourite pieces looking and feeling their best, season after season. Ready to build a collection worth caring for? Shop our best sellers.

Shop Related Styles

• Céleste One-Shoulder Midi Dress
• Joséphine Cable-Knit Turtleneck Sweater
• Françoise Button-Front A-Line Knit Dress
• Fleur Halter Openwork Knit Cover-Up
• Margaux Button-Front Knit Cardigan

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When to Use a Professional Cleaner

Most knitwear can be cared for at home, but two specific situations benefit from professional dry cleaning or specialist wet cleaning.

Cashmere and fine merino pieces with visible construction details (cable patterns, lace motifs, complex structural knits) benefit from professional care once a season. The structured stitching in these pieces can distort under home washing pressure even when the technique is careful. A professional cleaner with specialist knitwear experience will block the piece back to its original measurements after cleaning, which home drying cannot achieve with the same precision.

Pieces with oil-based stains that have set require professional pre-treatment. Water-soluble stains (food, wine, coffee) on natural fibres respond well to prompt home treatment: blot, never rub, with cold water and a small amount of gentle detergent, then launder as normal. But stains that have been through a wash cycle and set benefit from professional chemistry that home care products cannot match.

As a practical guide: home wash fine and mid-gauge cotton, cotton-blend, and merino knits. Take cashmere and heavily structured cable knits to a professional once or twice per season. This divides the care workload appropriately without subjecting robust pieces to unnecessary expense.

The Three Items Every Knitwear Care Kit Needs

Maintaining knitwear well requires only three items, none of which are expensive.

A wool-safe detergent or specialist knitwear wash. These are formulated to clean without stripping the natural oils from wool and cashmere fibres. Lanolin in wool keeps it soft and resistant to bacteria: regular detergent removes these oils and makes the fibre feel rougher over time. A small bottle of specialist wash, used sparingly, lasts a full season.

A fabric shaver or de-pilling comb. Pilling is a surface phenomenon: the pills that form on knitwear are loose fibres that have migrated out of the yarn structure. They can be removed cleanly with a fabric shaver or de-pilling comb. Running a fabric shaver lightly across the surface of a pilled piece restores it to near-original appearance in under ten minutes. Use on a low setting in one direction; do not press hard or the blade can catch the underlying knit structure.

A cedar block or moth-repellent sachet for seasonal storage. Moths and carpet beetles are the primary biological threat to natural fibre knitwear during storage. Cedar actively repels moths when fresh and should be replaced each season. Store clean knitwear in a sealed container with cedar, not loose in an open drawer where moth larvae can access it freely.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should you wash a knitwear piece?

Wool and cashmere have natural antibacterial properties and do not need washing as frequently as cotton or synthetic garments. A fine-gauge wool sweater worn over a base layer can be aired and worn three to five times before washing. Knits worn directly against the skin need washing more frequently. Over-washing is one of the most common causes of knitwear degradation: wash when the piece needs it, not on a fixed schedule.

Is it safe to use a washing machine for knitwear?

Most cotton and cotton-blend knitwear is machine washable on a cold delicate cycle in a mesh bag. Merino and cashmere can survive the machine on a wool cycle with low spin speed if the knit construction is robust (mid-gauge or heavier). Fine-gauge cashmere is the most at risk: agitation can felt the fibres irreversibly. When the care label says hand wash, treat it as a firm instruction rather than a suggestion.

What is the correct way to dry knitwear?

Lay flat on a clean dry towel in the shape you want the piece to keep. Gently reshape the shoulders, hem, and cuffs while the knit is still damp. Do not hang to dry: even a small amount of moisture makes natural fibre heavy enough to stretch the shoulder seam permanently. Avoid direct sunlight and direct heat sources. A dry room at room temperature is ideal. Most pieces are wearable within twelve to twenty-four hours.

Well-Cared-For Knitwear from ELNOVE

Every ELNOVE piece is built for longevity. The constructions are chosen for their wash durability, the gauge for how well the stitch structure holds over repeated wears, and the finish for how the piece looks after a careful hand wash and flat dry. Following a simple care routine, cold water, a delicates wash, flat drying, and infrequent full laundering, keeps any well-made knit looking as close to new as possible for years. View the full collection and find the care instructions for each piece on its product page.