Stained Silk Ties
The real truth is that silk ties aren’t designed to be cleaned. They are very fragile and most cleaning methods will tear them apart.
That said, the frugal person will ask, “What? Throw it away? Not a chance!”
If you get a stain on your silk tie you have a couple of choices to try to remove the stain. None of these are foolproof. But, nothing looks worse than that big red stain from last night’s spaghetti running down the front of your tie.
Silk is not very friendly with water, so avoid using water to try to clean a stain off of your tie. Handle them as little as possible to avoid wrinkles and pulling the tie out of shape.
The first thing I would recommend is taking your tie to your friendly local dry cleaner. They will tell you up front if there is a good chance of removing the stain or not. Most of the time, they are successful. If they’re not willing to tackle the job, here are a couple other ideas you could try:
- Dab your stain with a little bit of rubbing alcohol. (Use a light-colored cloth to do this, don’t use paper towels or tissues as the fibers will pill off into the fabric of the tie.) Blow the area dry to keep a visible ring from forming around the stain. Do this three or four times and you may very well see a difference.
- For oily stains like salad dressing, try using either talcum powder or cornstarch. Place the tie on a flat surface and apply a thick layer of powder over the stain, and then leave it overnight. Again, you may have to do this three to four times to get rid of the stain.
Next time, rather than chance it, toss that tie over your shoulder while you eat, or tuck it into your dress shirt. It’s a whole lot easier getting stains out of your shirt than it is out of your tie!
What's so Special about silk?
To quote Oscar de la Renta, "Silk does for the body what diamonds do for the hand."
Silk comes from the thread spun by a silkworm and is the finest and strongest natural fiber in the world. Silk clothing almost works like a second skin.
Silk has a beautiful sheen and caresses the skin of the person wearing a silk garment. It wears well, resisting soiling and odors.
Silk is natural wrinkle-resistant and it's considered to be hypoallergenic because of its protein structure.
For any questions about dry cleaning your silk or anything else, please get in touch.