Washing silk shirt that says dry clean only.

[nitgel]

Google says i can handwash in cold water but what's the worse that can happen ?

I wash a lot of ‘dry clean only’.

Always a cold wash.
Wool wash liquid.
Don’t rub if hand washing.
Flat dry.

Only exceptions are things with linings as they may shrink at different rates.

I had a dry clean only silk scarf. I washed it in my machine's cold handwash cycle and it survived multiple washes like this, until the day I accidentally did it on a standard 40 degree wash and it perished

Hand wash.

Oh shoes :( I'll try handwashing

No need to buy special wool wash, hair shampoo will do for hand washing silk and cashmere. (It's OK for your hair, right ?)

The worst that can happen is it changes the texture of the fabric and makes it less 'slippy' and more stiff. One trick I have learned with silk is to put it on a hanger after handwashing and dry it with a hairdryer! That seems to avoid it becoming stiff.

Never had a single dry clean item that didn’t handle a cold wash wool cycle.

Trick is to steam iron before dry though.

Or else it will lose its smart look.

Use just the steam holding iron upright (decent one)
Or use a Muslin and sleeve iron accessory etc or it just won’t look perfect.

Ooh good advice thank you