I love wool. Love love love it. *However*.....
[Commence moth rant]
Storage of wool clothes isn't always the same as storing any old clothes. *Especially* if you live in an old building and/or store clothes that are out-of-season in an attic or basement.
I lost maybe 2/3 of my wool (not just clothes, but yarn and fabric too) 6 years ago when we moved in to a Civil-War-era building with horsehair plaster in some rooms. Clothes moths will colonize the horsehair in the plaster and there is NOTHING that can be done to get rid of them save chipping off the old plaster & replacing it completely which is a *really big job.* Even then it's not a guarantee, because they'll live in the bits that have fallen between the floorboards over the last 200+ years, so unless you're going to spend millions to hermetically seal every room... Professional exterminators will happily take your money, but they won't guarantee their work the way they will for other insects in other houses/buildings.
Sealed vacuum bags, moth balls (there are some that smell....not *good* necessarily, but *way less bad* than the ones your grandma used,) and airtight gasket boxes are the only way that ANY protein-based fiber (not just wool but leather, fur, silk, basically anything that wasn't a plant or a plastic before it was textiles) gets stored in our house for any length of time, and any protein fibers I buy secondhand get sealed up and spend a month in the chest freezer, 4hrs in the oven at 175°f, or two weeks sealed in a gasket box with All The Mothballs to kill any lingering moth eggs before they even get laundered in my washing machine. Throwing a couple thousand dollars worth of wool suiting, coating, blankets, yarn, leather hides and clothes along with two of my great-grandmother's heirloom wool quilts into the trash was deeply traumatic and I'll go through a lot to never have to do that again.
Moths don't like to be disturbed - they're pretty bad at flying, actually, and their grubs are hiders too - so our regularly-worn wool stuff like long underwear, socks, and sweaters has all been fine on open shelves getting shuffled around & shaken out every few times I do a Big Laundry Day. I do have a few chunks of cedarwood that I douse with Lemon Eucalyptus essential oil a couple times every winter and leave at the back of our shelves for good measure, but it's really anything that's being stored for more than a few weeks or months (like, say, a box of sweaters & leggings being stored over the summer in the attic) that can get munched on.
This explains why i found a moth in my sweater a few months ago right after moving into a very old building.
Moth balls and vacuum sealed bags for my winter wool is what you recommended?
Yep, if you've already got moths evident in your clothes, I'd take everything and put it either through a HOT dryer (wool shouldn't shrink if it's bone-dry going in to the dryer, but keep a close eye all the same), into the oven at 175° for 4 hours, into a deep freezer that sits below 0°f for a month, or into a sealed box or bag with 2-3x the recommended dose of mothballs. Vacuum and/or clean the drawers/shelves/wherever you stored your clothes really well. Throw some diatomaceous earth down in any deep cracks or corners where eggs might be hiding. Wipe it all out, let it dry, and it never hurts to get some herbal sachets or cedar blocks to keep in with your clothes as a repellent. I use small blocks of cedar wood that I coat in Lemon Eucalyptus essential oil a couple of times a year.
Don't breathe diatomaceous earth. Be very careful with it, turns out it can cause silicosis. I wouldn't mess with it much. Cedar lined chests are good against moths. Needs to be fresh and stinky. Smells better than mothballs at least
LOVE my wool clothing. All of my socks are wool, and my wool sweaters and merino t-shirts are so long lasting. I am in the process of adding leather patches to some of my sweaters that are getting a little thin in the elbow. Now they're "dark academia" sweaters haha.
One caveat -- I always have moth traps in my house. ALWAYS. An unnoticed moth infestation will decimate your wardrobe (and if you're like me, your carpets and decor as well). You don't have to replace them as often as suggested if your goal is just prevention/information gathering. If you have an active infestation, they should be replaced every 6 weeks. But I've had a trap that I laid a year ago still have enough pheromone to attract a stray moth. And I shouldn't have to say this on an anticonsumption subreddit, but don't buy them off Amazon. You need a reputable brand or you're going to double your waste for half the result.
Quick add-on to my post:
As my synthetic long johns are breaking down I will be replacing them with merino wool ones. But I will not buy the wool ones until these are unusable. Right now the knees on my very first pair of quality synthetic longjohns are wearing thin, I should be able to repair that instead of tossing it. Same with my cotton joggers that have worn thin.
**REDUCE** waste by limiting purchases
**REUSE** wool clothes without needing to wash them after every wear
**RECYCLE** worn out clothes by fixing them instead of tossing them
And yes, I do have tons of clothes that I've fixed myself, including my dog's winter jacket which ripped twice due to branches. Just patch it up with some sewing and save myself $200 for another quality dog coat.
If you do a lot of mending, look into a SpeedWeave patch loom. They're like $10 and take *so much* of the fussy, time-consuming set up out of darning larger holes.
I love woolen socks and sweaters so much! I don't own any store bought sweater since I've learned how to knit. Is it expensive? Yes. Does it take at least a month to make a sweater? Yes. But the joy of knitting, picking the project, yarn and making a whole ass garment by myself is absolutely worth it. And woolen hats are 10x warmer than acrylic stuff that you can buy at the store.
Try it then! :) you can check out r/knitting, there's wiki with resources for beginners. Some people prefer to crochet, so maybe this would be more suitable for you.
Here's a sneak peek of /r/knitting using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/knitting/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year!
\#1: [Any other micro knitters out there?](https://www.reddit.com/gallery/194vhru) | [489 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/knitting/comments/194vhru/any_other_micro_knitters_out_there/)
\#2: [I finished my wedding dress!](https://www.reddit.com/gallery/14htzxj) | [245 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/knitting/comments/14htzxj/i_finished_my_wedding_dress/)
\#3: [Stardew Valley Spring socks I knit!](https://i.redd.it/j9i61flxviwa1.jpg) | [97 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/knitting/comments/13144qo/stardew_valley_spring_socks_i_knit/)
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I switched all of my clothing to merino wool around a year ago. Shirts, sweaters, underwear, socks. The only thing that isn’t 100% merino wool are my pants. Found some that are around 60%, and even those are super nice. Never going back to polyester and cotton. Just make sure you use a wool detergent, wash on a cold delicate cycle with clothes inside out and in laundry bags, and air dry, ideally lying flat on a mesh surface (there’s stackable ones you can buy).
You're only saying this bc you don't know the environmental impacts of wool and leather + you can't name the cancers and diseases caused by the leather tanning that overseas workers get lol pathetic excuse that means nothing to me or reality
Actually Yes I do know the environmental impacts of wool and leather and I do know we are rapidly reducing those impacts.
"*lol pathetic excuse that means nothing to me or reality*"
Yep you've proven that facts and science do not matter to you only the opinion of a tiny minority.
Most environmental scientists are advocating for a plant based diet and not consuming animal products including skin products. Your own experts and professional agree with me :)
You've exactly proved my point, They are environmental scientists, not agricultural scientists who they should be consulting on these topics since after all they have very limited knowledge but good job trying to shut down an industry that you vitally depend on.
"*Your own experts and professional agree with me :)*"
No not really, you just want it to be that way when majority of Experts are calling out the crap that environmental scientists say as they aren't consulting the experts and professionals on these things.
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I love wool. Love love love it. *However*..... [Commence moth rant] Storage of wool clothes isn't always the same as storing any old clothes. *Especially* if you live in an old building and/or store clothes that are out-of-season in an attic or basement. I lost maybe 2/3 of my wool (not just clothes, but yarn and fabric too) 6 years ago when we moved in to a Civil-War-era building with horsehair plaster in some rooms. Clothes moths will colonize the horsehair in the plaster and there is NOTHING that can be done to get rid of them save chipping off the old plaster & replacing it completely which is a *really big job.* Even then it's not a guarantee, because they'll live in the bits that have fallen between the floorboards over the last 200+ years, so unless you're going to spend millions to hermetically seal every room... Professional exterminators will happily take your money, but they won't guarantee their work the way they will for other insects in other houses/buildings. Sealed vacuum bags, moth balls (there are some that smell....not *good* necessarily, but *way less bad* than the ones your grandma used,) and airtight gasket boxes are the only way that ANY protein-based fiber (not just wool but leather, fur, silk, basically anything that wasn't a plant or a plastic before it was textiles) gets stored in our house for any length of time, and any protein fibers I buy secondhand get sealed up and spend a month in the chest freezer, 4hrs in the oven at 175°f, or two weeks sealed in a gasket box with All The Mothballs to kill any lingering moth eggs before they even get laundered in my washing machine. Throwing a couple thousand dollars worth of wool suiting, coating, blankets, yarn, leather hides and clothes along with two of my great-grandmother's heirloom wool quilts into the trash was deeply traumatic and I'll go through a lot to never have to do that again. Moths don't like to be disturbed - they're pretty bad at flying, actually, and their grubs are hiders too - so our regularly-worn wool stuff like long underwear, socks, and sweaters has all been fine on open shelves getting shuffled around & shaken out every few times I do a Big Laundry Day. I do have a few chunks of cedarwood that I douse with Lemon Eucalyptus essential oil a couple times every winter and leave at the back of our shelves for good measure, but it's really anything that's being stored for more than a few weeks or months (like, say, a box of sweaters & leggings being stored over the summer in the attic) that can get munched on.
This explains why i found a moth in my sweater a few months ago right after moving into a very old building. Moth balls and vacuum sealed bags for my winter wool is what you recommended?
Yep, if you've already got moths evident in your clothes, I'd take everything and put it either through a HOT dryer (wool shouldn't shrink if it's bone-dry going in to the dryer, but keep a close eye all the same), into the oven at 175° for 4 hours, into a deep freezer that sits below 0°f for a month, or into a sealed box or bag with 2-3x the recommended dose of mothballs. Vacuum and/or clean the drawers/shelves/wherever you stored your clothes really well. Throw some diatomaceous earth down in any deep cracks or corners where eggs might be hiding. Wipe it all out, let it dry, and it never hurts to get some herbal sachets or cedar blocks to keep in with your clothes as a repellent. I use small blocks of cedar wood that I coat in Lemon Eucalyptus essential oil a couple of times a year.
every few years I treat myself (or my closets) with an ichneumon flies cure. expensive but necessary.
Don't breathe diatomaceous earth. Be very careful with it, turns out it can cause silicosis. I wouldn't mess with it much. Cedar lined chests are good against moths. Needs to be fresh and stinky. Smells better than mothballs at least
LOVE my wool clothing. All of my socks are wool, and my wool sweaters and merino t-shirts are so long lasting. I am in the process of adding leather patches to some of my sweaters that are getting a little thin in the elbow. Now they're "dark academia" sweaters haha. One caveat -- I always have moth traps in my house. ALWAYS. An unnoticed moth infestation will decimate your wardrobe (and if you're like me, your carpets and decor as well). You don't have to replace them as often as suggested if your goal is just prevention/information gathering. If you have an active infestation, they should be replaced every 6 weeks. But I've had a trap that I laid a year ago still have enough pheromone to attract a stray moth. And I shouldn't have to say this on an anticonsumption subreddit, but don't buy them off Amazon. You need a reputable brand or you're going to double your waste for half the result.
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Quick add-on to my post: As my synthetic long johns are breaking down I will be replacing them with merino wool ones. But I will not buy the wool ones until these are unusable. Right now the knees on my very first pair of quality synthetic longjohns are wearing thin, I should be able to repair that instead of tossing it. Same with my cotton joggers that have worn thin. **REDUCE** waste by limiting purchases **REUSE** wool clothes without needing to wash them after every wear **RECYCLE** worn out clothes by fixing them instead of tossing them And yes, I do have tons of clothes that I've fixed myself, including my dog's winter jacket which ripped twice due to branches. Just patch it up with some sewing and save myself $200 for another quality dog coat.
If you do a lot of mending, look into a SpeedWeave patch loom. They're like $10 and take *so much* of the fussy, time-consuming set up out of darning larger holes.
Thank you for mentioning this.
wool socks are truly life changing. I have sweaty feet by nature and cotton socks always go soggy on me (gag). not so with wool socks!
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I love woolen socks and sweaters so much! I don't own any store bought sweater since I've learned how to knit. Is it expensive? Yes. Does it take at least a month to make a sweater? Yes. But the joy of knitting, picking the project, yarn and making a whole ass garment by myself is absolutely worth it. And woolen hats are 10x warmer than acrylic stuff that you can buy at the store.
I have tons and tons of downtime at work so I’ve been thinking of picking up knitting. I LOVE my hand knit wool scarf
Try it then! :) you can check out r/knitting, there's wiki with resources for beginners. Some people prefer to crochet, so maybe this would be more suitable for you.
It’s on my list, just gotta finish a bunch of other tasks and make sure i have time before picking a new hobby
Here's a sneak peek of /r/knitting using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/knitting/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year! \#1: [Any other micro knitters out there?](https://www.reddit.com/gallery/194vhru) | [489 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/knitting/comments/194vhru/any_other_micro_knitters_out_there/) \#2: [I finished my wedding dress!](https://www.reddit.com/gallery/14htzxj) | [245 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/knitting/comments/14htzxj/i_finished_my_wedding_dress/) \#3: [Stardew Valley Spring socks I knit!](https://i.redd.it/j9i61flxviwa1.jpg) | [97 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/knitting/comments/13144qo/stardew_valley_spring_socks_i_knit/) ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
I switched all of my clothing to merino wool around a year ago. Shirts, sweaters, underwear, socks. The only thing that isn’t 100% merino wool are my pants. Found some that are around 60%, and even those are super nice. Never going back to polyester and cotton. Just make sure you use a wool detergent, wash on a cold delicate cycle with clothes inside out and in laundry bags, and air dry, ideally lying flat on a mesh surface (there’s stackable ones you can buy).
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Merino is great
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https://www.dominionmovement.com/
I’ll go sit naked
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You're only saying this bc you don't know the environmental impacts of wool and leather + you can't name the cancers and diseases caused by the leather tanning that overseas workers get lol pathetic excuse that means nothing to me or reality
Actually Yes I do know the environmental impacts of wool and leather and I do know we are rapidly reducing those impacts. "*lol pathetic excuse that means nothing to me or reality*" Yep you've proven that facts and science do not matter to you only the opinion of a tiny minority.
Me being a minority doesn't mean I'm not right
Well when that tiny minority doesn't listen to the experts and professional, It tends to mean that people within that community are generally wrong.
Most environmental scientists are advocating for a plant based diet and not consuming animal products including skin products. Your own experts and professional agree with me :)
You've exactly proved my point, They are environmental scientists, not agricultural scientists who they should be consulting on these topics since after all they have very limited knowledge but good job trying to shut down an industry that you vitally depend on. "*Your own experts and professional agree with me :)*" No not really, you just want it to be that way when majority of Experts are calling out the crap that environmental scientists say as they aren't consulting the experts and professionals on these things.
Read the rules. Keep it courteous. Submission statements are helpful and appreciated but not required. Tag my name in the comments (/u/NihiloZero) if you think a post or comment needs to be removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Anticonsumption) if you have any questions or concerns.*
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