How to Get Rid of Clothing Moths and Protect Your Garments

When you have a collection of fine clothing that you wish to protect over the long-term, moths are one of the biggest dangers that you need to consider. Once moths get inside of your clothes storage area, they can do incredible damage in just a short period of time. One of the biggest challenges with fighting against moth clothing in your items is that you almost never see them – they hate the light, so they will disappear quickly unless the room is totally dark. It is the larvae, rather than the adult moths, that do the damage to your clothes. You need to get ahead of this problem before it gets out of hand and ruins your entire closet.
Keep Things Clean
One of the best things you can do to keep moths away is simply to keep everything clean. By vacuuming and dusting on a regular basis, you will be able to greatly reduce your risk of having moth problems in your clothing. There may be moth clothing larvae within your carpets, so periodic vacuuming will help prevent these eggs from ever hatching and creating a bigger problem. It is obviously a good idea to keep your home as clean as possible anyway to prevent the development of pest issues, but pay particular attention to the areas where you will be storing your clothes for long periods of time.
Prepare for Storage
If you are getting ready to store some clothes that you aren’t going to be wearing for a while – such as sweaters as the summer approaches – have all of those items cleaned before you store them. Clean each garment according to the directions on the tag. When you put them into storage directly after a cleaning, you can be confident that you aren’t packing them away with pests already in place. You never know what you will have picked up while wearing these items, so a preventative cleaning prior to storage is a great idea.
Don’t Assume When It Comes to Storage
You might think simply putting your garments into a cardboard box, or just into a dark corner or your closet would be good enough to keep the moth clothing problem away – but you would be wrong. Moths can make their way into small spaces, even when you think your clothes are protected, so plastic is your best bet to safely keep them out of your clothes. If you store garments away in a plastic container, you will have a better chance of avoiding moth damage. However, plastic can lead to musty clothes that haven’t been able to ‘breathe’, so be sure to take the garments out on a periodic basis.
Prevent Spreading of the Problem
If you notice that some of your clothes have been damaged by moths – often their presence is revealed by small holes in your items – you should get those damaged pieces away from the rest of your clothes as soon as possible. You don’t want to keep them around as you may be promoting a spread of the problem throughout the rest of your closet. Garments that are badly damaged may need to be thrown away, but it could be possible to save less-damaged items with a thorough cleaning and repair job. While it might be a hassle to sort through your clothes and remove the ones with signs of moth damage, it is the only way to protect the rest of your wardrobe.
Hopefully, with the information above, you will be able to prevent moth clothing from becoming a problem in your home. To care for your garments with professional help, please contact the team at The Prestige Cleaners in Santa Monica. We offer tailoring, hand finished shirt laundry, wedding gown preservation, and more. Come see us soon!