Almost all kimonos, haoris, and fabric bolts that we sell are dry clean only. Some polyester and cotton products may be hand washed, but that depends on how they were dyed. Make sure to never wash the item with a machine washer. Please read the description of each item to find specific information.
Typically, kimonos and accessories are aired outside on sunny days with low humidity. We suggest flipping the kimonos inside out. This gets rid of latent smells, kills bacteria and mold, and decreases the amount of moisture.
If the product needs to be dry cleaned, please make sure you find a dry cleaner that has experience with vintage silk clothing, and hopefully has experience with kimonos.
If you would like to have your kimono cleaned in Kyoto, please contact us about having a professional kimono cleaner here launder the kimono. This will likely cost 1-5x the price of the kimono.
Professional kimono cleaners in Japan usually use these techniques:
1. Spot cleaning with specific chemicals that won't damage the fabric;
2. Destitch and clean the entire kimono in a liquid formula (mostly water) that will clean many use stains;
3. Paint over existing stains (usually used when options 1 and 2 cannot be done) - Sometimes the entire kimono is dyed again instead of doing spot cleaning;
4. Technique #2, but then dye the fabric once again to obtain the previous coloration (dyes oftentimes bleed heavily when coming into contact with water, so redyeing the fabric is required).
If you want to experiment to see if your kimono can be washed, the best option is to cut some extra fabric from inside the sleeve or inside the bottom and test to see what happens when washing. Try heavily irritating the fabric in warm water with delicate soap and see if the fabric shrinks, bleeds a lot of fabric dye, or loses its luster. Shibori (tye dye) fabric will typically bleed profusely and lose texture once washed, unless if you meticulously tie each spot that was tied when originally dyed.
If you would like to contact us, please use this form:
https://kimono-yumeya.com/contact-us
In general: Polyester jubans can be hand washed in cold water with delicate soap. Silk jubans can only be dry cleaned. Silk kimonos can only be dry cleaned. Polyester kimonos can usually be hand washed in cold water with delicate soap. Wool jubans and kimonos can only be dry cleaned. Cotton kimonos are about 50/50 for whether or not they can be hand washed.
If the product needs to be dry cleaned, please make sure you find a dry cleaner that has experience with vintage silk clothing, and hopefully has experience with kimonos.
**Updated on April 13th, 2022**
