Oddly enough I was thinking about this yesterday after a spate of post-festival laundry and pre-Autumn sorting out. Softness isn’t really a priority for me - I generally look for crunchiness in clothes - so it’s interesting to consider.
Five items stand out:
A Rochas cashmere coat, only affordable in a sale because it was a tiny size at a time when stress took me down to almost my teenage weight. Double sided and a miracle of tailoring. Possibly the softest garment I’ve ever owned. I won’t trust it to any dry cleaner.
A Studio Nicholson polo neck jumper in a combination of 70% merino wool, 20% silk and 10% cashmere. I bought it for the violently acid yellow colour and the narrow proportions, but with each wash (Ecover Wool & Silk liquid) it’s become miraculously softer and silkier, whilst retaining almost all its colour.
A pair of The Elder Statesman cashmere shorts, hugely reduced in a sale. Incredibly thick - it took a while for me to realise they also are comprised of two layers of cashmere stitched together at the waistband and hems. I like to think I’ll still be wearing them for lounging or gardening or sitting on a rocky beach for a good quarter of a century. Never washed so far.
An American Vintage (!) t shirt dress with an outer layer of 100% cotton airtex and a full integrated lining of 100% cotton jersey. It’s almost liquid in its softness, to the extent that I feel it looks more like an old fashioned nightdress than daywear. Washed in Ecover biological powder.
A pair of Primark joggers, 60% cotton, 40% polyester, bought in an actual shop because of their lovely bright blue colour, enticing thickness and fabulous array of pockets. Jersey outside, fleece inside. Washed in bio powder, I’m shamelessly impressed with them.
The strange thing is I really don’t care much about cashmere for clothes - I’m much more likely to look for Shetland wool, or weird tweeds containing wool and paper and nylon and whatever. But it obviously does contribute to softness either on its own or combined with other fibres.
Almost all of the garments I’ve mentioned were astonishingly, or at least averagely, expensive to begin with. I adore a bargain but am happy to pay for unusually lovely clothes that will bring joy for years. And it’s definitely worthwhile making an effort to maintain clothes in their best state, which may counterintuitively mean not laundering as often as seems natural. We only have five senses - touch is just as worthy of attention as any of the others.