How often should you dry clean a suit? Less than you think

People dry clean suits far more often than they need to, usually out of a vague sense that clothes should be washed. Dry cleaning is a chemical process, and it is rough on the things that make a good suit good.

What it actually does

The solvent strips the natural lanolin out of the wool, which is what gives the fibre its softness and its spring. Repeat that often enough and the cloth goes flat, dull and slightly brittle. The pressing that follows can flatten the roll of the lapel and shine the fabric at the elbows and seat.

On a fused jacket, the heat and steam also work away at the glue holding the interfacing to the cloth. Bubbling in the chest of a suit is very often a dry-cleaning story.

How often, honestly

• A suit worn once or twice a week: twice a year, at the change of seasons.
• A suit worn most days: three or four times a year.
• A suit worn occasionally: once a year, or when it is visibly dirty or smells.
• Any suit, immediately: after a real stain, or anything oily or sugary that will oxidise and set.

Brush it after every wear and air it overnight, and you will find you rarely think it needs cleaning at all.

What to do instead

Most of what makes a suit feel unfresh is smell, not dirt, and smell responds to air. Hang the suit somewhere with moving air — not a packed wardrobe — for a night. A bathroom after a hot shower will steam out light creases at the same time; hang it there, not in the steam, for fifteen minutes.

Spot-clean small marks yourself with cold water and a clean cloth, blotting rather than rubbing, before they have a chance to set.

When you do go

Ask for the jacket and trousers to be cleaned together even if only one is dirty. Cleaning shifts colour very slightly, and after two or three cycles a jacket cleaned twice as often as its trousers will no longer quite match it.