Everything you own, and how not to ruin it.

The whole guide, in one table

The 30-second answer

If you only read one thing, read the row for whatever is in your hands. Everything below this table is the reasoning.

Showing all 12 rows.

Day one

Before the first wash

New bedding and new sleepwear both want one cycle before they meet you. It relaxes the fibres, settles the finish, and takes the loose dye with it rather than your mattress.

1. iWash it once, cold, on its own. Especially anything in a deep or saturated colour — give it two solo washes before it joins a mixed load.
2. iiSkip the softener, permanently. Not just now. It coats fibre, and every fabric here is sold on how the bare fibre behaves.
3. iiiRead the label in the seam. It is the one instruction written for the exact piece in your hands; this page is the reasoning behind it.

Stonewashed flax, before its first wash at home. The softening has already started at the mill.

Four fabrics on the bed

Bedding

All four wash the same way. They differ in what happens next — in the dryer, under the iron, and in the drawer.

200 TC · double-layer gauze

Cloud Cotton

The most forgiving thing we sell, and the slowest to dry.

Two layers of long-staple cotton gauze, woven apart so air moves between them. That structure is why it feels weightless — and it is also why it holds water. Wash it cold, dry it low, and let it crumple: the crinkle is the finish, not a fault to be pressed out.

Wash

30°C, gentle cycle

Dry

Tumble low, or line dry in shade

Iron

Don't. Shake it out instead.

It forgivesCreasing, folding, and being slept in all week without complaint.

It won't forgiveFabric softener. It flattens the gauze and the loft goes with it.

The honest bit. Two gauze layers hold more water than a flat weave, so Cloud Cotton takes noticeably longer to dry than percale. Start the wash on a morning you are not hoping to remake the bed by evening.

Shop Cloud Cotton How it's woven

200 TC · percale

Plain Cotton

Crisp on day one. Soft by wash twelve. Both are correct.

A plain percale weave — one thread over, one under, nothing hidden. It arrives with a hotel snap to it and loses that slowly, on purpose. It also comes in 42 colours, which is the other thing worth knowing before the first wash.

Wash

30°C, gentle. New deep colours: two solo washes first.

Dry

Tumble low; take it out slightly damp

Iron

Warm, while damp, if you want the snap back

It forgivesIroning, daily use, hot sleepers, and a great many washes.

It won't forgiveA hot tumble. Percale shrinks with heat, and once it has, it has.

The honest bit. Percale starts crisp and softens over the first dozen washes. That is the weave relaxing, not the cloth wearing out — but if you bought it for the snap, plan on owning an iron.

Shop Plain Cotton How it's woven

300 TC · sateen

Silky Cotton

The one fabric here that notices what else is in the drum.

A sateen weave floats more threads across the surface than a percale does. Those floats are where the sheen comes from, and where the cool hand comes from — and they are exactly what a zip catches. This is the only fabric in the range that really needs its own load.

Wash

30°C, gentle, alone or with soft items only

Dry

Tumble low; remove promptly

Iron

Cool, on the reverse, if you want it flat

It forgivesFrequent washing. The colour depth holds unusually well.

It won't forgiveA zip, hook or strip of Velcro sharing the wash.

The honest bit. Cool to the touch is not the same as airy. Sateen moves less air than linen or gauze, so if you sleep hot it will feel wonderful for an hour and warm by 3am. Cloud Cotton or linen is the better bet for you.

Shop Silky Cotton How it's woven

100% French flax · stonewashed · 170 GSM

Linen

Almost nothing you do will hurt it. One thing is permanent.

Stonewashed before it reaches you, so the softening has already begun. Linen is the lowest-maintenance fabric in the range by a distance: it wants a cold gentle wash, a low dry, and no iron. It is also the only one with a decision baked into it.

Wash

30°C, gentle

Dry

Tumble low or line dry; take out damp and shake

Iron

Not needed, and not expected

It forgivesEssentially everything. It improves for years.

It won't forgiveOver-drying. Bone-dry linen creases hardest and relaxes slowest.

The honest bit. Linen creases permanently, by design. Pressing it flat buys you the time between making the bed and someone sitting on it. If that will bother you, buy the percale instead — we would rather tell you now.

Shop Linen How it's woven

Three fabrics you sleep in

Sleepwear

Sleepwear takes body oil, night sweat and friction that bedding never does, and it takes them in the same three places every night. Wash it more often than feels necessary, and always inside out — the outside is what people see, and the inside is what needs the water.

Grade 6A · 19 & 22 momme

Mulberry Silk

Cold water, neutral detergent, no sun. Everything else is negotiable.

Silk is a protein fibre — structurally closer to hair than to cotton — and that single fact is the whole care instruction. Anything that would strip hair will strip silk. Treat it like something living and it will outlast most of the cotton in your drawer.

Wash

Hand wash cold with a pH-neutral silk detergent, or dry clean

Dry

Lay flat, out of direct sunlight. Never wring.

Iron

Coolest setting, on the reverse, while slightly damp — or steam

It forgivesBeing worn often. Silk is considerably stronger than it feels.

It won't forgiveEnzyme detergent, chlorine bleach, direct sun, or drying on a radiator.

The honest bit. Biological detergents are formulated to break down protein. Silk is protein. One wash with the wrong bottle does damage that no amount of careful drying afterwards will undo — and it will not look like damage until the fabric dulls a few washes later.

Shop Mulberry Silk Silk After Dark

~95% modal · 5% elastane

Modal Cloud

Inside out, away from anything rough. That is the whole game.

Beechwood pulp spun very fine, with just enough elastane to hold its shape. Its softness is a property of the surface, and surfaces are precisely what pilling attacks. Nothing else about washing it is difficult; the load it shares is everything.

Wash

Cold, gentle, inside out, with lightweight items only

Dry

Tumble low, or lay flat to keep the drape

Iron

Rarely needed. Cool, if at all.

It forgivesFrequent washing, creasing, being packed into a weekend bag.

It won't forgiveSharing a drum with towels, denim, or anything with a zip.

The honest bit. The 5% elastane that gives Modal Cloud its recovery is not biodegradable, and hot water shortens its working life. Washed cold, a set holds its shape for years. Washed hot, the waistband is the first thing to go.

Shop Modal Cloud All pyjamas

100% cotton · hand-illustrated prints

Long-Staple Cotton

The prints are the fragile part, not the cloth.

Straightforward, breathable cotton — and the base for the hand-illustrated prints, ric-rac trims and contrast piping. The fibre itself is hardy and will survive most things. The pigment sitting on top of it is the thing worth protecting.

Wash

Cold, gentle, inside out

Dry

Tumble low, or line dry in shade; remove slightly damp

Iron

Medium, on the reverse, keeping the plate off the print

It forgivesRegular washing, children, and being the set that gets worn most.

It won't forgiveA hot wash followed by a sunny line. That pairing fades prints fastest.

The honest bit. Cotton shrinks with heat and the shrink is not recoverable. If a set has ever come out of a hot dryer a size smaller, that was the dryer, not the sizing — and it is the one laundry mistake here that a return policy cannot fix.

Shop Pure Cotton Nights Size guide

The pieces people get wrong

Fills, inserts and accessories

Covers are the washable layer — that is what they are for. The fill underneath needs washing two or three times a year, and needs drying properly every single time.

1. iDuvet inserts. Cold, gentle. Then tumble low until they are bone dry — not almost. A damp micro-denier fill clumps as it cools and does not recover. If the insert cannot tumble freely in your drum, it is being soaked rather than washed; King and Super King usually belong at a launderette.
2. iiPillow and body pillow inserts. Cold, gentle, tumble low, dried all the way through. Two at a time balances a domestic drum better than one.
3. iiiCushion inserts. Machine washable, cold. Reshape by hand while still warm and they hold their corners.
4. ivModal eye masks and scrunchies. Cold, gentle, in a mesh bag so straps don't find zips. Lay flat, or tumble low. No iron — heat deforms the mask padding.
5. vThe 19 momme silk mask and silk robe. Hand wash cold with a pH-neutral silk detergent, or dry clean. Lay flat away from direct sun; cool iron on the reverse if needed.

Hand-embroidered, London atelier

Monogrammed pieces

The first ten minutes

Stains

Almost every stain that comes out comes out in the first ten minutes. Almost every stain that never comes out was heat-set by a wash or a dryer before anyone looked at it properly.

1. iBlot, never rub. Rubbing spreads the stain outward and roughs the fibre — on sateen and modal that mark shows long after the stain has gone.
2. iiCold water only. Heat sets protein stains permanently: blood, sweat, milk, egg. Cold first, always, even when hot feels more decisive.
3. iiiWork inwards from the edge so you shrink the stain rather than widen it.
4. ivOn silk, cold water and a pH-neutral silk detergent — nothing else. No oxygen bleach, no household spray, no salt. If it is a stain you care about, a specialist cleaner is cheaper than a replacement.
5. vCheck before heat. Wash as normal, then look at the spot while it is still wet. A dryer will set whatever the wash missed.

Between uses

Storage, and the rest in between

1. iStore it clean. Body oils you cannot see oxidise into yellow marks you can, over a season in a cupboard. Wash before putting anything away.
2. iiCotton and linen: folded, breathing. A shelf or a drawer, not a vacuum bag — compressed creases set hard and take several washes to release.
3. iiiSilk: folded, dark, loosely. With acid-free tissue if you have it. Not on a wire hanger; the weight pulls the shoulders out of shape.
4. ivRun two sets in rotation. Two sets alternating outlast one set washed twice as often, and the resting set has time to fully recover its loft.
5. vAir the bed before making it. Twenty minutes with the duvet folded back lets overnight moisture leave rather than sit in the fill.

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