Drying and storing

1. Lift the garment supporting its whole weight in both hands. Never lift a wet bra by one strap: the weight of the water stretches the strap elastic permanently.
2. Do not wring, twist or squeeze. Twisting concentrates all the force on whichever threads are at the outside of the twist.
3. Lay the garment flat on a dry towel, roll the towel along its length and press firmly on the roll.
4. Unroll, reshape the cups with the hand and straighten the band and straps.
5. Lay flat on a fresh dry towel or a mesh drying rack.

• Flat, on a towel or a mesh rack, in a room with moving air.
• Out of direct sunlight. Ultraviolet light yellows polyamide and silk and embrittles elastane.
• Away from radiators, heated rails and any direct heat source. A radiator is a tumble dryer with extra steps.
• Not on a hanger by the straps, which stretches them under the weight of the water.
• Not folded over a line at the band, which sets a crease in the elastic.
• If a bra must be hung, hang it from the centre gore over a line so the weight is carried by the strongest point.

Never put anything with elastane in a tumble dryer. If one rule from this whole site survives, make it that one.

A hand washed bra dried flat in a normally ventilated room takes most of a day. In a cold, still, humid room it can take considerably longer, and a garment left damp for more than a day can develop an odour that is difficult to remove afterwards. Moving air matters more than heat: an open window or a fan across the room dries faster and does no damage at all.

Moulded cups should be reshaped before drying and should not have anything resting on them while damp, since foam takes a set as it dries. Drying two moulded bras stacked on top of each other is a reliable way to produce a permanent dent in the lower one.

Moulded and structured bras

Store cup inside cup, facing the same direction, in a single row with nothing pressing on them from above. Never fold one cup into the other: the crease is permanent.

Soft bras and bralettes

Fold once, cups together, and stack. These tolerate folding because there is no foam to crease.

Briefs

Fold and stack, or roll. Neither harms anything. Keeping them separate from bras stops hooks finding lace.

Silk

Fold loosely with acid free tissue at the folds, or hang on a padded hanger. Long term folding under weight sets a crease line that is hard to remove from a fine silk.

Anything seasonal

Clean before storing, always. Body oils and food residue attract insects and oxidise into stains that appear months later on a garment that looked clean when it was put away.

A drawer that is too full is a mechanical problem, not an aesthetic one. Garments pressed against each other take a set, moulded cups crease, hooks catch lace and nothing can be found. The practical answer is fewer pieces, which is what the capsule drawer is about, plus dividers that keep bras standing in a row rather than stacked in a heap.

Rotation belongs here too. Elastane recovers better if given a day out of use between wears, so a set of five bras worn in rotation will outlast a set of three worn harder, by more than the difference in number would suggest. That is a fabric fact rather than a shopping argument: it works equally well with garments already owned.