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Underground > Art, Fashion & Design >

Zara, and 'Do not wash'

20:56 / 07.04.05

I bought a scarf from Zara earlier this year, and noticed that the care label said simply 'Do not wash'.

Which I thought was pretty daft, but it was only a scarf, so I kind of forgot about it.

However, recently I was in the shop again and saw other items, including skirts, with the same label. Not 'dry clean only' - just 'don't wash'.

Which is bizarre, no? Clothes need washed. The scarf, I suspect, would be fine if I handwashed it - but who knows? And it was quite cheap - if I spent more than that, on a skirt for example, I'd be really nervous. Is this just a shop's way of getting out of any responsibility if things shrink/ warp when they're washed?

It's shocking, really - not only is it wasteful, financially, to buy new clothes when the old ones get dirty, but it's pretty un-environmentally-sound.

Has anyone seen this in other shops? Is it a trend, or is Zara just odd?

21:59 / 07.04.05

Is it possible that they don't consider drycleaning to be washing? Perhaps they think of washing as different from cleaning? Just a guess. It was only recently that I learned what drycleaning entails.

Tryphena Absent

22:31 / 07.04.05

I'm pretty sure that they really mean that if you soak it in water the material will shrink or water stain. Dry cleaning isn't actually washing, it's cleaning- what you've got is a translation problem. They probably convert the labels straight from one language to another rather than using English instructions. What is the scarf made of?

06:26 / 08.04.05

It's made of acrylic. The thing is, some of their clothes say dry clean - and some say this. And if you take something to a drycleaners without dry cleaning instructions (because apparently there are different types or levels of dry cleaning) then they won't do it. Well ... actually, that was with a leather jacket, so maybe leather is different.
Hmm, perhaps you're right and it is just that you can't wash them in water.

17:28 / 08.04.05

Go and ask them.

00:46 / 09.04.05

This is perplexing. They don't seem to have a website.

I'm inclined to go with the bad translation argument except 'dry clean only' foxes that slightly.

Personally, as someone who washes everything (even hand-wash garments) I would just wash it. But then I also have an evil fall-back system for this. If you are fairly certain an item will be OK but just feel a little unsure, just engineer it so that someone else puts it in the wash.* Then, if it's cool you know for the future, and if it isn't you didn't stupidly wreck your own clothes, because someone else made the decision.

The only major rule for this plan is that you can't be cross or bring it up if it does shrink or whatever, because it was your own test.

*Obviously this needs some sort of other-washing system than yourself. For me that is my Mum, because when she's at my house looking after my son she feels compelled to put some washing on 'to feel useful'. Because clearly it's not useful enough that she's my free childminder 3 hours a day, 5 days a week.