How to Store Winter Coats So They Are Not Ruined by August

Wool holds smell the way a sponge holds water. Store a coat badly in April and by October it comes out smelling of whatever cupboard, bag, or loft you shoved it into. Sometimes it comes out with small round holes in the shoulder as well. Both problems are avoidable, and neither needs a cedar hanger with your initials embroidered on it.

Clean the coat before you put it away, not after

Clothes moths do not eat clean wool. They eat what you left on it: sweat, skin oils, a smear of food, whatever someone spilled at Christmas. The British Pest Control Association is direct about it. Cleanliness is the single biggest deterrent, more than any chemical or block of scented wood you can buy.

So, at the end of a season, dry-clean the wool coats. In most UK cities that runs £8-14 for a full-length wool coat and £14-20 for cashmere. Once a year. If you cannot stretch to dry cleaning the whole lot, do this instead. Brush every coat down with a proper clothes brush (Kent do a nylon-and-boar one for about £14 that outlives most washing machines). Spot-clean the cuffs and collar with a damp microfibre cloth. Hang the coat outside on a dry day for six hours in the shade, not direct sun.

Wool responds well to fresh air. It does not respond well to being sealed up dirty.

Plastic bags are for airtight things, and wool is not one

A coat sealed in polythene sweats. Trapped moisture becomes mildew, and the coat picks up every smell that surrounds the bag. Loft air smells of loft. Vacuum-compression bags flatten the fibres and creases set permanently, which is why the shoulders of a good coat look wrong for months after you unpack it.

Use cotton or unbleached calico garment bags instead. £6-12 each from John Lewis or Amazon. The ones that zip closed are better than pull-string bags: adult clothes moths are 6-7mm long and walk through drawstring gaps without noticing them. Inside the bag, hang the coat on a wide wooden or padded hanger. Never wire. A wire hanger pulls the shoulders into two little horns within a single summer.

For anything expensive (a Crombie, a decent tweed) the heavier canvas Hangerworld bags with reinforced hooks are worth the extra £5.

Cedar, mothballs, lavender: what actually deters clothes moths

Clothes moths (Tineola bisselliella and its cousin the case-bearing moth) eat keratin. That means wool, cashmere, silk, feathers, and the felt underside of that jumper you like. What deters them, in rough order of effectiveness:

• Freezing at -18°C for 72 hours kills eggs and larvae outright. If you suspect an infestation, bag the coat first, freeze, then dry-clean, then bag again. This is the sequence Which? recommends and it works.
• Cedarwood contains natural terpenes that repel moths for around 3-6 months before losing their scent. Sand the block lightly with 120-grit paper twice a year, or add a drop of cedar essential oil. Cheap and effective enough for most wardrobes.
• Naphthalene or paradichlorobenzene mothballs work well but are toxic, and the smell lingers in wool for a year or more. Sold as Zensect in the UK. I do not use them around children.
• Lavender bags smell nice. Moderate deterrent, weaker than cedar, but non-zero.

I use cedar blocks and refresh them twice a year with sandpaper. About £8 for six blocks and they last three seasons.

A one-hour routine, done once a year

Here is the sequence I follow at the end of every winter. The July check is the one most people skip, and it is the one that saves the coat if something has gone wrong.

If the July inspection turns up webs, tiny rice-shaped grubs, or a musty smell, treat then. Freeze the coat for 72 hours, dry-clean it, hoover the wardrobe corners with the crevice tool, replace the bag. Fixing it in July takes an afternoon. Finding it in October when you actually want the coat means shopping.

Where in the house winter coats should actually live

Not the loft. Loft temperatures in an average British semi swing from 5°C in February to 40°C on a hot day in August. Wool fibres relax and contract with those swings and the coat loses shape. Loft insulation dust settles into anything porous, and mice occasionally chew through what they find useful.

Not the shed. Damp, mice, occasional spider.

Not under the bed unless the bedroom is very dry: mattresses shed dust and fibres constantly, which just adds to what a moth might find interesting.

The best place, in a normal three-bed house, is an interior wardrobe on an interior wall, door closed, no direct sunlight. a family friend, who repaired white goods for thirty years and had strong opinions about airflow, always said the same about coats. Wardrobes on outside walls get colder and slightly damp in winter, so I stopped using the one in my front bedroom for anything wool. If every wardrobe is full, hang the bagged coats on a rail in a spare room and drop a Unibond dehumidifier on the shelf. £3, replace every three months, keeps the humidity below the point where wool starts to feel damp to the touch.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just hoover the coat rather than pay for dry cleaning?

You can, and it helps, but hoovering does not remove the sweat and skin oils that feed moth larvae. Use the upholstery attachment on low suction, then spot-clean the collar and cuffs with a damp cloth. That works if the coat had light use. A full dry clean is worth the £10 if you wore the coat three times a week all winter.

What if I already have moth holes in a coat?

First, freeze every wool item in the wardrobe at -18°C for 72 hours in sealed bags. Then wash or dry-clean them. Then hoover the wardrobe corners, seams, and skirting thoroughly. Moth larvae hide in wardrobe joinery, not just on the clothes. A single treated coat put back into an untreated wardrobe will be reinfested by August.

How often should I refresh a cedar block?

Sand it lightly with 120-grit sandpaper every 3-4 months to expose fresh wood, or add one drop of pure cedarwood essential oil. Cedar blocks stop working when they lose their scent, not when they look worn. A block that no longer smells of anything is decorative timber.

Is it worth vacuum-packing wool coats for a house move?

For a few days, fine. For anything longer, no. Vacuum bags compress the fibres flat and set creases that are expensive to steam out. Use rigid wardrobe boxes from any moving company (about £8 each) with the coats hung on the internal rail instead. Much better outcome for the same money.

Do garment bags have to be new, or can I reuse old suit-carrier bags?

Reuse them, provided they are cotton or canvas and zip fully closed. Wash them at 40°C first to reset them. The vinyl suit carriers dry cleaners hand you free are polythene and no better than a bin liner for long storage. Cut those up for shoe covers or bin them.

Related reading

• How to Tell When a Garment Is Worth Repairing
• How to Hem a Pair of Trousers When You Don’t Sew Often
• How to Sew On a Button So It Actually Stays On for Years