Maintenance: How to Wash Socks

When I began living on my own as a young man, I lacked an education in household things. Doing my own laundry meant that dirty clothes went into the washer, the water temperature was set to hot, and the cycle begun. Years later I learned I had prematurely ended the lives of many pair of socks that way.

Inadvertant sockicide didn't matter too much then, but today I try to get longer life from my socks so I can afford patterns like the pictured pair by Robert Talbott. That means laundry is done a lot differently now. Silk and cashmere socks are washed by hand in warm water. Cotton and wool socks are machine laundered in cold water on the delicate cycle.

After washing, my socks are hung on a drying rack installed below the laundry room fan. The fan moves enough air over the socks to make them think they are being line dryed out of doors, so they don't get stiff as a board. Which they do for some reason when they're line dried in still air.

When dry, fold each pair carefully and store them neatly in a drawer. At those prices, they deserve it.