The football season has arrived, and so has the time to don your country’s colours to show your support – whether on your couch or during a friendly game at the park. But, no matter who you’re supporting in the upcoming games, there’s one thing we can all agree on, and that’s that we want our football shirts to survive the season until the final match.

Alas, washing colourful garments can be a tricky endeavour, and far too often do we end up shedding a tear over losing our favourite items of clothing to a washing machine mishap. So, to help you avoid such a tragedy this year, here are the best ways to make sure you safely wash your football kit!

Check the Temperature

The risk of clothes shrinking or becoming otherwise damaged is ever-present when it comes to doing laundry. One of the most common causes of shrinkage is washing clothes at the wrong temperature. And, while you’re going to want to get those grass and mud stains out of your kit as soon as possible, sometimes high heat can be as damaging as it can be helpful. Make sure you always check the recommended washing temperature on the labels of your football shirts and shorts, or you might end up looking like you’ve chosen a kit a few sizes too small!

Go Inside Out

Football gear, especially shirts, tend to come with patterns and text printed onto them. While these designs often look spectacular, the quality doesn’t always last. Printed designs can crack, fade or start to come off in the washing machine, so it’s important to take precautionary steps to make sure your name stays clear on the back of your footie shirt! Turning your kit inside out before you wash it helps a great deal in that regard, protecting any printed designs from the brunt of unwanted washing machine damage.

Separate Colours

This may be a fairly obvious tip for those of you who are used to doing your own laundry, but just in case you aren’t familiar with washing machines – you should always separate your colours from your whites. This is especially true if your football kit itself is white, as it could end up with an unwanted tinge in no time if you don’t keep it apart from your more colourful clothing. Doing this might mean twice the work, but it’s a much better alternative to constantly having to replace your colour-tinged whites!

Hang Dry

Just like washing your clothes at the wrong temperature, drying them in a tumble dryer can be risky too. Not all clothes can handle the heat, so if you’re wanting to make sure your kit doesn’t shrink this football season, it’s best to hang it up to dry naturally instead. This will help to protect the condition of your football gear for many moons to come, and with summer here and the sun shining, it won’t take all that long either!

We hope you found our blog post on the best ways to safely wash your football kit helpful. While you’re here, have a read of our appliance maintenance line-up blog post to make sure your home is fully prepared for the summer ahead!

Tags: Laundry, Laundry Tips, Washing Machine Advice, Washing Machine Tips