What am I doing wrong shrinking cashmere ?

[667TheNeighbourOfTheBeast]

My husband has had two cashmere jumpers, that I have managed to shrink, even though I’m washing on delicate wash 30 degrees , 600 spin and wool wash. Afterwards I put a bath towel on the heated airer I have and lay them on top of this flat. What am I doing wrong ? Is it the small amount of heat that’s getting through the towel? I bought them second hand thankfully otherwise I would be devastated! This also happened with another wool/acrylic mix jumper although this hasn’t shrunk as bad. I used to wash delicate jumpers etc by hand but am now don’t have the energy due to ill health.

My machine has a hand-wash/ delicates setting and I wash cashmere on a 30 degree, with Woolite. Air dry on rack, no shrinkage. I even wash DH's suit trousers on same setting.

Yes they are dried flat but from what others have said it may be the heated airer even through bath towel

Already been said but definitely don’t put them anywhere near a heated airer. We have a lot of cashmere items eg scarves, hats, jumpers, cardigans, all washed in machine on wool cycle 30 degrees. Never had a problem but avoid any form of direct heat.

My DH likes his cashmere enough to take it to the dry cleaners.

Only ever hand wash mine

Delicate wash is too long for cashmere to be immersed in water. Wash by hand,

I’m wondering if the grey greasy bits may be fabric conditioner? I once washed a mustard woolly jumper which came out with bluish marks on it. I realised that it was in fact fabric conditioner that hadn’t been agitated enough in the wash since it was on a woollens wash. I don’t think you are supposed to use fabric conditioner on a woollens wash in a machine.

Hand-wash in barely warm water. Use a wool liquid wash. Don't dry on top of heat. You are doing nearly everything you shouldn't be doing.

I wear a lot of cashmere,wash it on the wool wash in my machine using products especially for wool,no conditioner.Never had them shrink.I buy my cashmere in JL,their own brand,always when on sale.

I very rarely wash my cashmere- I have worn a cashmere cardigan numerous times for the last year I've had it without washing once & wool only if the sleeves start getting dirty around the cuffs. Natural fibre doesn't attract sweaty & smells. Sometimes I'd air them. Ic I wash my wools it's on the wool wash in my machine on lowest heat setting & lowest spin with a special wool detergent

Could you just pretend to wash it? If he's wearing a t shirt underneath and it doesn't smell then I'd spot clean it, air it (outside if it's not raining) fold it nicely. Job done. Don't buy him any more cashmere jumpers.

Spray under the armpits with neat vodka then lay flat to dry/air

The ones I bought my husband were John Lewis too. No fabric conditioner for wool ?
@gingergiraffe you could be right, I had just presumed it was grease/ residue from liquid detergent as I rarely wash at 60 or over.

Definitely don’t wash cashmere every 2 weeks! I wash mine once a year because they tend to lose shape after that. I always just use the wool 30 degrees setting on my washing machine and have never shrunk anything.

I would just smooth, fold and put away your husband’s jumpers (after spot cleaning any food spills) and I bet he won’t notice the difference. If he does, tell him he’s welcome to crack on and wash them every 2 weeks himself. All that would achieve is to wear them out more quickly (and increase the chance of shrinking).

You're using the wrong cycle - "delicates" has too many revolutions for wool or cashmere, so it starts to felt because it's been agitated too much.
Put it on wool wash only, having checked that the cashmere is labelled as ok for the washing machine. You can spin wool and cashere on high spin, it's actually better for it.

the trick is no heat …. At all.

have quite a few cashmere jumpers and none of mine have shrunk, yet. My wool wash is 30 on my washer which I feel is too warm so I put them on a short, cold wash with the spin off. I gently reshape whilst wet. They then get laid flat on the clothes horse (no heat) and are usually dry overnight. I have quite a few pairs of wool socks too so they all go in together.

I wash my cashmere and merino layers regularly. Less often than other clothes, but I wait until I have a load and put a load on the woollens wash which in 30 deg. I just dry flat and then put on a radiator. But you'd know if the wash had been responsible if they come out shrunk, it's the wash.

I ruined two sweaters on a normal 40deg wash when someone put them in before I noticed. Very careful now, but still machine wash.

Any cashmere that’s labelled as machine washable ( eg John Lewis or Pure) I’ll do in my machine on the Wool wash programme. Then dry on an (unheated) airer. Never had any mishaps doing that. The one time a cashmere sweater shrunk, my helper gave the washing an extra spin without checking with me first. That spin would have been faster than the Wool wash spin speed. I often give my washing an extra spin when drying things indoors, but always remove any cashmere things first!

Cashmere is more resilient in a machine wash than ordinary wool, IME. I machine wash my cashmere things fairly often as I wear them every day in winter. I agree with PPs, probably the heated airer was the problem in your case.

I'm in the US where there isn't any cashmere label saying machine washable. None that I've come across anyway.

The labels are Dry Clean or Dry Clean Only. I started out washing Dry Clean items using my DM's method for wool (cold wash and rinse and then roll in a clean, dry towel overnight, away from heat, then unroll and dry flat away from heat). Then I tried a Dry Clean Only item that was moth eaten just to see if it would work - nothing to lose after all - and it worked on that too.

I've successfully washed a wool coat that a cat peed on, and dried it using the rolling method, using a damp cloth and my iron to smooth it out when it was almost dry.

You definitely need to reshape them whilst they're wet and then leave them to dry flat and not heated. I lie mine in a towel on a flat surface.
When they're not entirely dry I put them on and give them an extra re shape.