Mending Cashmere

Have you ever been in the situation where you’re wearing your favourite jumper when suddenly, you discover it has a hole? Uggh!! After months or even years of wear, it is relegated to the back of the wardrobe or worse yet, it goes straight into the bin. In an age of fast fashion and throwaway culture, this is too often the norm and as societies our waste from these practices has grown to an unsustainable rate. 

We are firm believers that something worth buying is also something worth repairing. We were influenced by philosophies such as Wabi sabi from Japan, that embrace and even highlight imperfections as natural and beautiful elements of life (we loved this philosophy so much we designed our SS17 collection around the concept). With this in mind, we encourage you to consider mending your damaged cashmere this winter and reduce the number of items that end up on the rubbish pile.  

Before & After Mending 

All our cashmere styles come with a small amount of cashmere yarn for making repairs. Unless your cashmere has a tiny hole, we don’t recommend trying to sew the hole closed as this will leave you with an unsightly lump or puckered effect. Instead, it is quite a simple process to darn the hole. Knitwear like our cashmere jumpers are lengths of yarn fibres that are knitted together, weaving into each other to create one piece. Darning is the process of filling in that hole with more yarn. Here are some basic tips to darning a hole. 

1. First thread a needle with the yarn provided with your jumper, or any other thread that matches the colour and thickness of your jumper’s fibres. 
2. Tie a knot on one end of the thread and anchor it on an upper corner of the hole (on the inside of the jumper) about half an inch from the edge of the hole. This will ensure your repair work is secure and won’t unravel. 
3. Now work the needle through from top of the hole to the bottom following a vertical line, passing the needle back into the garment, half an inch below the bottom of the hole. Continue to do this from one side of the hole to the other. 
4. Once you have darned all the way across the hole, now start to darn horizontally across the hole, this time weaving in and out of your vertical lines of thread to create a weave effect. Once you have covered the entire area of the hole, either tie a knot to secure the thread loosely on the inner side of the jumper, or snip off enough thread to tuck it by hand into your work. That’s it! You’re done!

Repairs like this are good for the planet, good for your wallet and it’s so satisfying to save your jumper from a premature demise. There are lots of tutorials online showing other repair tips, such as removing snags, or patching large holes. If however, DIY repairs really aren’t your thing, take it to a local seamstress who will be able to fix your jumper in no time! 

Sometimes however, your cashmere really is beyond repair and in this case, our recently launched Recycled Cashmere Campaign is just the thing. In our ongoing sustainability efforts, we are now accepting the return of your preloved, Les 100 Ciels cashmere pieces. Returned pieces will be exchanged for cash vouchers, and the cashmere will be taken away washed, deconstructed and the recycled yarn made into new styles. The end result.. cashmere with a second life! Learn more about our Recycled Cashmere Campaign here.

For more tips on caring for cashmere including use of a cashmere comb, visit our Care page here.