Silk is a natural fibre, and washing with anything other than water will cause it to lose some of its natural properties.

Silk is naturally hypoallergenic, and care is taken during the preparation of the silk for our duvets that no chemicals are used, ensuring that the natural properties are not compromised in any way. Although this is not of primary importance for many users it does mean that all users will enjoy the natural healthy benefits that silk provides.

The traditional method of cleaning silk filled duvets is to sun cure them i.e. to air them in the sun a few times a year. This has the effect of cleaning and purifying the silk floss, and under normal circumstances no other cleaning will ever be required.

Our silk filled duvets are not intended for use in circumstances where frequent cleaning might be necessary, but we appreciate that occasionally it might be necessary to clean a duvet in its entirety.

It is now generally accepted that no item containing silk should be cleaned with any form of chemical cleaner (such as those used in dry cleaning processes), as the chemicals will cause some hardening of the silk, thus reducing its softness. Additionally, although dry cleaning fluids evaporate readily at low temperatures it is impossible to ensure that traces of cleaning chemicals do not remain on a cleaned article, even after thorough airing. The surface area of silk within even a lightweight duvet is immense, and it will be inevitable that some traces of cleaning chemicals will be retained on the surface of the silk fibres.

It is also becoming recognised that even dry cleaning of duvets with other natural fillings is not an ideally safe way of cleaning them, and professional wet cleaning is now becoming more common, and there are increasing numbers of machines designed for this purpose being installed at cleaners in the UK and Europe. Other new cleaning processes are now also becoming available which are suitable for the total cleaning of our silk duvets providing the correct settings are used, which is why professional cleaning is necessary. It is not recommended that any duvet be washed in a domestic machine or even in a laundrette in a machine with large drum, and such washing would nullify the guarantee on our own duvets.

Therefore we recommend that total cleaning of a silk filled duvet is only used as a last resort, and that wherever possible it is avoided.

Care Instructions - Mandarina silk filled duvets

We suggest that you read the following care instructions and terms of guarantee before making your purchase. These instructions and guarantee will be enclosed with your duvet.

Silk duvets are a luxury item, do require more special and specific care than duvets with other fillings, both in their usage and cleaning.

Silk duvets supplied by Mandarina Textiles are covered by a 10 year warranty against manufacturing defects.

The warranty does not cover normal wear and tear or product abuse by the consumer. The warranty is void unless the following care instructions are followed.

·The duvet must be always used with a removable duvet cover for protection.

·The duvet must never be shaken strongly as this might displace the hand layered silk floss.

·The duvet must never be dry cleaned, machine washed, hand washed in its entirety, wrung or tumble dried.

·A properly covered silk duvet should not require cleaning under normal conditions of use. We recommend that the duvet is regularly aired without a duvet cover in the sun for a minimum of 2 hours, 2 to 3 times a year

·Any washing of the duvet will cause it to lose some of its natural properties.

Localised spillages can be treated by immediately wiping the affected area with a clean white damp cloth. If the spillage has penetrated through to the silk floss, the affected area only may be delicately hand washed using luke warm water (maximum 30º Centigrade) and a non-biological detergent suitable for washing woollens, and thoroughly rinsed using cold water. Excess water can be removed