Minnesota's 'Laundry Evangelist' has lowdown on washing down, cashmere and more

Twin Cities-based Patric Richardson (laundryevangelist.com; Instagram @laundrypatric) has made a name for himself nationally by sharing his love for laundry. He's willing and able to tackle everything from caring for the most delicate of fabrics to battling the toughest of stains.

The host of "The Laundry Guy" on HGTV and Discovery+ and author of "Laundry Love" will bring his love of all things laundry to the Minneapolis Home and Remodeling Show starting Feb. 3, where he'll be a featured guest (1 p.m. Feb. 3, 3 p.m. Feb. 4 and 1 p.m. Feb 5).

In addition, Kevin O'Connor of the Emmy-Award-winning PBS home improvement show "This Old House" will be on hand (3 p.m. Feb. 3 and 1 p.m. Feb. 4). And, as usual, there will be more than 200 experts and exhibitors ready to talk shop about remodeling, home design and sustainability. Interior design vignettes, tablescapes and art walks will also be part of the lineup.

Ahead of Richardson taking the main stage, we asked him to share his tips on caring for popular winter fabrics now that we're in the thick of sweater-weather season. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

The lowdown on down

The thing about down is it's become a fashion fiber, but it used to be something you picked up at hiking stores. It's serious outdoor gear. If you go to an outdoor store, they tell you off the bat to not dry clean down.

Instead, use a down wash or delicate hosiery wash that's basically a liquid soap. You can find it anywhere, even the grocery store. A regular detergent doesn't rinse clean enough and won't thoroughly clean it. You don't want to coat those down fibers and you want them to be as clean and fluffy as possible because the fibers are where the warmth comes from.

To dry down, hang it up. Then when it's almost dry, put it in the dryer on air fluff, which means no heat, with tennis balls. Some people say they use wool balls or a clean sneaker to fluff up their laundry. However, in the case of down, those won't work as well because of gravity. Tennis balls are active, they're springy. They're meant to bounce, which is most effective to get that fluffiness.

Sweater wear and care

People are terrified to wash sweaters, especially cashmere. The way I do it is I put it in a sink of warm water with a little bit of detergent. I swish it and let it sit for five minutes and repeat a few times for a total of 20 minutes. Then I drain the sink and fill it with cool water, swish and let it stand again. Then I pull the stopper a second time, but I don't wring the sweater. Instead, I press it up against the wall of the sink to squeeze water out of it.

One of the challenges when handwashing any sweater is that it can lose its shape. The reason for that is that it's heavy when it's sopping wet. Once you've gotten the water out of it, let it lay in the sink until it's just damp before laying it on a towel to finish air drying.

The other big question I get about sweaters is how to stop it from pilling. The answer is that you can't. But you can remove it. I like a sweater comb, sweater stone or a disposable/safety razor. I don't like those electric sweater depillers because if your sweater is really delicate, an electric depiller can put a hole in it.

Everyone has it and why wouldn't they? It's super easy to wash, it's very durable — you can play tug of war with it. But usually this time of the year it's full of ... we're going to call it winter sweat. The reality is polar fleece hates water and loves oil. And detergent isn't strong enough to wash it away.

The trick is oxygen bleach because what we want is something that breaks down oil. When your fleece is out of the washer, put it in the dryer for only a couple of minutes. It's a fast-drying material. Do this, and your polar fleece will be warmer and softer. Plus it won't smell like Lollapalooza.