How to Wash Chrome Hearts Clothing: Hoodies, Tees, Denim and Leather

To wash Chrome Hearts clothing safely, read the care label first, because the right method depends on the fabric and the trim. For a plain cotton hoodie, tee or long sleeve with no leather or metal on it, the usual approach is to wash it inside out in cold water on a gentle cycle with a mild detergent, skip bleach and fabric softener, and let it air dry. Denim, knits and anything with leather patches or sterling silver hardware need more caution, and leather should never go in a washing machine.

Chrome Hearts clothing is not one material. Our hoodie listings alone range from standard pullovers to thermal-lined pullovers and knit hoodies with cross patches, and the denim, leather jackets and trousers are different again. We did not find a single care guide from Chrome Hearts that covers all of it, so this guide combines the care-label rules that apply to every garment with published guidance from denim, wool, textile and leather-conservation sources, applied to the features these pieces have.

Once Legos is an independent NYC reseller of pre-owned Chrome Hearts. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by or authorized by Chrome Hearts, and this is general garment-care guidance, not an official Chrome Hearts instruction. Your own care label always takes priority.

Start with the care label

In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission's Care Labeling Rule requires a garment's label to give instructions for at least one safe method of cleaning, and to warn when a procedure a buyer might reasonably assume is safe would actually harm the garment. Manufacturers also need a reasonable basis for what the label says, so it is the best evidence you have. A label only has to list one safe method, which means a wash label does not promise the piece can also be dry cleaned, and a dry clean label means a home washing machine is not a safe method for that piece.

Pre-owned pieces add a few complications. Labels fade or get cut out, so if a garment has no readable label, treat it as the most delicate version of its type. You will rarely know how often it has been washed. And washing changes size: cotton can shrink or stretch, and the size on a tag describes the garment when it was new, so measure a pre-owned piece as it is today before you buy.

Cotton hoodies, zip-ups and sweatshirts

Plain cotton fleece is the easiest category to care for. These steps follow sportswear and textile guidance for cotton hoodies.

1. Zip the zipper, tie up the drawstring and empty the pockets so nothing snags or slips out in the machine.
2. Turn the hoodie inside out to protect the outer fabric and any print or embroidery.
3. Use cold water and a gentle cycle. Cold water is less likely to shrink or fade cotton.
4. Choose a mild or color-preserving detergent and leave out fabric softener, which builds up on the fabric over time.
5. Treat stains before the wash, not after, and test any stain remover on a hidden spot first.
6. Skip the dryer if you can and air dry the hoodie indoors.

If you do use a dryer, keep it short. Research from Cotton Incorporated found that the tumbling action, not the heat, is what shrinks cotton in a dryer. In its test, 100 percent cotton knit fabric tumbled with no heat at all still shrank by more than 20 percent after 45 minutes. The organization's head of textile research recommended tumbling for no more than five minutes to take out wrinkles, then hanging the garment to dry. For a heavy hoodie, lay it flat on a towel or hang it on a wide, rounded hanger so the weight of the wet fleece does not pull at the shoulders.

Zip-ups and hoodies with metal hardware

Some pieces have sterling silver zipper pulls, snaps or buttons. Our recommendation is to hand wash these in cold water or have them professionally cleaned, since a heavy metal pull can knock against the drum and the fabric around it. Keep chlorine bleach away from them entirely. The U.S. National Park Service's museum conservators warn that even gloves processed with chlorine can tarnish silver after a short contact. Our silver care guide covers cleaning the metal itself.

Thermal-lined and knit hoodies

Knits stretch under the weight of water. Check the fiber content on the tag, and if it lists wool or cashmere, follow Woolmark's guidance. Wool is naturally stain and odor resistant, so it needs washing less often than other fibers. Dry it flat on a towel, knead it back into shape, and skip the tumble dryer unless the label allows it. Keep it away from radiators and direct sun while it dries. For storage, fold knits rather than hanging them so they keep their shape, and use cedar blocks instead of mothballs.

T-shirts, long sleeves and printed pieces

Tees and long sleeves follow the same cold, inside-out, gentle-cycle routine. Care guidance for printed and embroidered garments adds two points: wash the piece inside out, and do not iron over printed or embroidered areas. Air dry flat when you can, and if you tumble, use a low setting and a short cycle, for the shrinkage reason above.

Jeans and cross-patch denim

Levi's denim care guidance is a good baseline for ordinary jeans. Wash after roughly every 10 wears and spot clean minor stains rather than washing the whole pair. When you do wash, turn the jeans inside out, close the zipper and use cold water on a gentle cycle with a mild detergent, or one made for dark colors if the denim is dark. Air dry by hanging or laying the jeans flat, inside out and in the shade, because machine drying can cause shrinking and fading. For raw denim, Levi's advises hand washing in cold water with a gentle cleanser and not wringing the fabric.

That guidance is written for jeans without extras. Chrome Hearts cross-patch pairs have sewn-on leather patches and usually sterling silver hardware, and our cross-patch jeans guide advises against home washing a patched, silver-trimmed pair, since heat and agitation can shrink the denim and stress the leather and hardware. Spot clean small marks, and take anything bigger to a professional who handles leather-trimmed denim. You can see how current pairs are finished in our jeans collection.

Leather jackets, pants and patches

Leather cannot be machine washed. The Canadian Conservation Institute notes that most leather types are vulnerable to water, which can cause staining and stiffening depending on how the leather was tanned. Treat leather as a surface to maintain rather than a fabric to launder.

• Fresh water-based stain: blot it and let the leather dry naturally. Do not use a hair dryer.
• Any cleaner or conditioner: test it on a hidden area and wait 24 hours to check for changes in color or texture. This is Schott N.Y.C.'s advice for its leather jackets.
• Dry cleaning: ordinary dry cleaning is not suitable for leather, because the heat can strip natural oils and lead to color bleeding or cracking. A leather specialist is the safer choice, and many cleaners send leather out to one.
• Conditioning: this is a judgment call. Museum conservators advise minimizing dressings because oils can oxidize and cause further stiffening and darkening, while jacket makers point owners to professional cleaning and reconditioning. If you condition at home, test first and use very little.

Storage matters as much as cleaning. Hang a leather jacket on a padded hanger, which the Canadian Conservation Institute recommends for garments so they do not deform, and keep it in a cloth garment bag rather than plastic so the leather can breathe. Store it somewhere cool and dry and away from sunlight. Mold can grow on leather when relative humidity stays above about 65 percent. Browse our current leather jackets and outerwear to see how these pieces age.

Sterling silver trim and dry cleaners

Sterling silver is 92.5 percent silver, usually alloyed with copper, and it darkens when it reacts with sulfur compounds in the air. Dark oxidation in the recesses of Chrome Hearts silver is part of the look, so a little darkening on a zipper pull is not damage. What does damage silver is chlorine, so keep bleach and chlorinated cleaners away from any garment with silver trim.

If a label says dry clean only, tell the cleaner about the hardware before you hand the garment over. Ask whether they handle metal-trimmed pieces and how they protect the hardware during cleaning. A cleaner that has never worked with trim like this is a reason to look elsewhere.

Wash less, spot clean more

The simplest way to protect a garment is to wash it less often. Levi's suggests spot cleaning minor stains on denim instead of washing the whole garment, and Woolmark notes that wool needs less washing than other fibers. Hang pieces to air out between wears, and deal with a stain as soon as you see it.

What to avoid

• Machine washing leather, or denim with leather patches and silver hardware.
• Hot water, which is more likely to shrink and fade cotton.
• Chlorine bleach on anything with silver trim.
• Fabric softener on hoodies and tees.
• A hot or long tumble dry on cotton, since tumbling is what shrinks it.
• Ironing over prints and embroidery.
• Plastic garment bags for leather, and hair dryers on wet leather.

Buying and selling pre-owned clothing

Wear and washing history show up as fade, shape and measurements. Every Once Legos listing carries one of five condition grades, Brand New, Excellent, Great, Good or Fair, plus a one-line note on condition. If a piece falls between two grades it is listed at the lower one. Our FAQ explains how we grade. Because all sales are final apart from the narrow exceptions on the FAQ, ask about measurements and condition before you buy. Current hoodies and zip-ups are in hand in New York, and you can handle them at a private visit to our NYC Showroom.

If you are selling a piece, send photos of it as it is through Sell To Us and describe its condition honestly. Aggressive home restoration can damage prints, leather and hardware, and it will not change what the piece is.

The bottom line

Follow the label, wash cold and inside out, dry flat or briefly, and treat leather, patched denim and silver trim as specialist jobs. When you are not sure what a piece can take, spot clean it or ask a professional rather than guessing, because heat, agitation and chlorine cause most of the damage that cannot be undone.