10/28/2026
The coats are coming out of storage this week, and the down ones are where people do real damage without meaning to.
Down is not fabric, it is thousands of separate clusters that trap air. Wet, they clump together. If you dry a puffer with nothing knocking it apart, those clumps set hard, and a coat that dries matted has lost most of its warmth permanently. No amount of fluffing brings it back.
So wash it on gentle with a small amount of detergent, skip the fabric softener entirely because it coats the down and kills the loft, and dry it on low heat with two or three clean tennis balls in the drum. It takes longer than you expect. Keep going until there is not a single damp lump left anywhere in it.
If that sounds like a job you would rather not risk, bring it to us. We do a lot of them this time of year.
Your trusted laundromat.