SWK Kilt socks

[mkmound]

Machine wash cold and line dry. I also turn mine inside out to help cut down on pilling.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

My housekeeper suggests one should machine wash hose inside out on the "gentle cycle" and then lay them flat on a towel, wrap the towel around the hose and wring them out. Once that's done turn them right side out, put wooden "shapes" into the hose and then hang them in the airing cupboard to dry (takes 2-3 days). I have hose which are close to 40 years old, have always been laundered in this way, and haven't shrunk.

If you don't have a housekeeper, airing cupboard, and "shapes"-- which I presume are the sort of leg shaped boards in the laundry room-- then you can do what I did before I came into all these wonderful things: I simply used to toss 'em in the basin, wash 'em by hand, wring 'em out, and hang 'em up to dry like Christmas stockings. As long as they weren't exposed to heat to speed up the drying process, they dried without noticeable shrinkage.

[Galician]

But is it necessary to follow this for their non-woolen socks?

[mbhandy]

All of my socks get washed inside out in cold water on gentel* cycle and put in the dryer on low and they are fine. (Cotton or Wool) Once they got on Permanent Press and the wool socks were a little tight but I stretched them out and they were fine.

MrBill

[ChromeScholar]

But is it necessary to follow this for their non-woolen socks?

I say no. I own SWK non-wool socks. I wash them on the regular cycle and dry them in the dryer. No problems.

[kilted_brewer]

Living as I do, in a house in which several people do the wash and not everyone knows which items need special care (where it's an accomplishment just to finish the wash and fold it), I've washed and air-dried and washed and machine-dried both FK Heritage Hose, as well as several pairs of USA Kilts-sold hose. The Heritage hose shrink a bit, but stretch back out, and the only undesirable change I've seen is the "fuzzy factor" on both kinds. The navy blue and hunter green hose have both been shaved with a de-piller since they've been machine-dried, and I try to avoid putting them in the dryer if I'm the one "moving the laundry along."

[Jack Daw]

Because some of my kilt hose are not cheap in price, I have taken the extra precaution of hand washing them in Woolite, rolling them in a towel to get a majority of the water out, then hanging them to dry.