Moth Protection

How to protect your Woollykins from moth and insect damage: When the weather starts to warm up and your wool clothing isn't getting as much frequent use it's time to implement your Moth Be-Gone Safety Strategy.⁠Step 1: Detection. Knowing when they are starting to become active again will tell you when to start putting away less used items. We put moth traps out from the beginning of Spring and when we see the moths are active then we’ll start to ensure that any wool clothing not being used frequently gets dealt with to prevent damage. ⁠⁠Step 2: Clean/Mend and Freeze. Before putting clothes in storage we do the following:⁠ Wash all woollens well, treating any stains etc, if you're a real wool fanatic then give them a wool conditioning treatment to restore any lost lanolin and buzz off any pills.⁠ We also like to mend any holes prior to storing so that come Autumn, everything is ready to wear.  Once clean and dry put them in clean paper/plastic freezer bag and place in freezer (-18 degrees or less) for 2 weeks. The freezing kills any moth larvae that may have already been deposited on the garments – if you pack items away that have eggs on them and put them in a dark, undisturbed place with their favourite food, they will hatch and make mean work of your woollies.⁠ Remove from the bag and place inside a cotton storage case like our Northern Olive Organic Cotton canvas cubes or a pillowcase (tight/close weave like poplin etc), neatly folded, with a cedar block or cedar sachet Zip up or wrap the pillowcase around the garment or tightly roll up the end up to make sure nothing can get inside. ⁠ Other general precautions include taking outside items hanging up inside your wardrobe and shaking them out once a month, moths dislike being disturbed. Vacuum regularly around the bottom and edges of wardrobes and any shelves. If you add anything to the storage cases that hasn't been treated in this manner you might contaminate the other pieces so take care to maintain this best practice.