Before you attempt cleaning
The first question with any sentimental garment is not how to clean it but whether to clean it. This is not a question most people think to ask — the instinct when receiving an old garment is to clean it before using or storing it. But cleaning always carries risk, and the risk is proportional to the age and fragility of the fabric.
A new silk saree can withstand professional dry cleaning without concern. A 50-year-old silk saree may have fabric that has become brittle through oxidation, light exposure or incorrect storage. Attempting to clean a structurally compromised garment can cause tearing, distortion or dye loss that makes the situation worse than doing nothing.
The fabric feels stiff or papery when gently flexed. There are visible areas of wear-thinning or small tears along fold lines. The dyes look faded or uneven. There is visible mildew or dark spotting. The embroidery threads are loose or detached. Any of these signs warrant professional inspection before any cleaning attempt.
What we look for on arrival
When a sentimental garment arrives at The Swiss Laundry, the inspection process is different from a standard garment. We look at three things before deciding on a cleaning approach.
Only after this inspection do we decide whether to proceed with cleaning, with a modified gentler process, or to advise against cleaning and recommend stabilisation and storage instead.
Yellowing and oxidation
The most common concern with old silk garments is yellowing. The cream silk of a 1970s Banarasi saree that has been stored in a steel trunk for decades often emerges with a distinct yellow tone that was not there when it was new.
This yellowing is primarily caused by the oxidation of silk's protein structure — a process that is chemically similar to the browning of cut fruit. Light exposure, heat and contact with acidic storage materials (including newspaper, some cardboard and certain types of tissue paper) accelerate the process.
Professional treatment can reduce yellowing significantly in many cases, particularly when the yellowing is recent or moderate. Very old, deep yellowing may only be partially reversed. The treatment works best when the saree has been stored in an airtight container (which limits oxygen exposure) rather than in open air.
Storage after cleaning
Cleaning an old garment and then storing it incorrectly will simply repeat the damage. The storage method after cleaning matters as much as the cleaning itself.
The principles of correct storage for old silk and zari garments are straightforward. Avoid plastic — polyethylene bags trap humidity and create a microclimate that accelerates deterioration. Avoid newspaper — the acids in newsprint transfer to fabric over time and accelerate yellowing. Avoid fold lines — folded silk develops stress lines at the fold that eventually become permanent creases.
The correct approach: wrap in acid-free tissue paper, roll around an acid-free tube or roll loosely, place in a clean cotton muslin bag, store in a cool dry dark environment with some air circulation. Check every six months, reroll to change the stress points.
The single most damaging thing you can do to an old silk saree after cleaning is to put it back in a plastic bag and a steel trunk.
When not to clean
Some garments should not be cleaned — only assessed, stabilised and stored. This is the correct advice when the fabric is so fragile that any cleaning process carries an unacceptable risk of causing further damage.
For a garment in this condition, the goal shifts from restoration to preservation. Dust can be removed with very soft brushing in one direction only. Small tears can be stabilised with appropriate conservation-grade material. The garment can then be stored correctly to prevent further deterioration.
If you have a garment that you believe may be in this category — extremely old, visibly fragile, or of significant historical or family importance — bring it in for an assessment before any cleaning is attempted. We will give you an honest opinion about the risk, and if we think cleaning is inadvisable, we will tell you that.
We regularly receive garments that are irreplaceable — the saree from a grandmother's wedding, the sherwani from a grandfather's collection. We treat these differently. The inspection is more thorough. The process is more cautious. We tell you honestly what we can and cannot achieve before we begin. 13 years of earning that trust.