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Should I wash or dryclean my satin gear?
Good question. Though acetate is a dryclean only fabric, I must admit that I have often washed my gear
in COLD water. I can't officially recommend that you wash your gear in soap and water,
because basically acetate satin is a re-generated fibre and looses strength when
wet. However, if you want to try it anyway you can handwash it in cold water and a very mild detergent.
Drip dry the garments immediately after they are washed - and NEVER tumble dry your satin clothes.
I even machine wash my shirts in cold water
- but I strongly recommend that if you do decide to machine wash your gear that
you do it in a front loading washing machine, which is gentler to the
clothes than a top loaded machine. Use the most gentle spin setting possible.
If you wash them in lukewarm water the fabric will actually become even softer
(because it loses it's "strength" or "hold" - it doesn't become brittle), which can be nice for shirts, but not for pants, jeans and jackets as they tend to lose the natural "hold" provided by the acetate satin that hasn't been washed in warm water. That's my observation anyway.
Though I have never had it happen to garments I have washed in cold water, the colour can smear. NEVER mix colours when you wash garments in lukewarm water. The reason for this is the same that goes for garments comprised of several satin colours - they will smear onto each other when washed in anything but cold water (and maybe even then, tough it hasn't happened
to me). Never wash your satin gear in water hotter than lukewarm and NEVER
mix colours.
Believe it or not but I have even machine washed a badly stained suit in cold water and detergent on a low spinning cycle, then drip-dried it and ironed it back to shiny perfection - however, as I said, I can't officially recommend that you do anything other than dryclean your gear. Please, feel free to ask me when in doubt. | 
