How to Store Off Season Clothes in South Florida
Clothes are rarely ruined while you are wearing them. They are ruined in the eight months they spent in a closet, and almost always for reasons that were avoidable.
The one rule
Never store anything dirty. If you take nothing else from this, take that.
Body oil, perspiration and invisible food and drink residue all oxidise over time. What was invisible in March is a set yellow or brown mark by November, and by then it has bonded into the fibre. Worse, soiled fabric attracts insects. Moths and carpet beetles are drawn to the residue rather than the cloth itself, which is why a dirty wool jumper gets eaten and a clean one next to it does not.
Clean everything before it goes away. Everything.
Why humidity changes the rules here
In a dry climate a sealed container is reasonable storage. In South Florida it is a mildew incubator.
Any moisture sealed in with fabric has nowhere to go, and warm still air is exactly what mould needs. That applies to vacuum bags, plastic bins with tight lids, and the dry cleaner's plastic bag that garments come home in.
That last one catches people out. That plastic is for the journey home, not for storage. Take it off.
What to use instead
- Breathable cotton garment bags for hanging items
- Cotton or canvas boxes rather than sealed plastic for folded items
- Acid free tissue between folds for anything delicate or valuable
- Broad shaped hangers for anything structured, never wire
- Cedar rather than mothballs, which leave a smell that is genuinely hard to remove
Where matters as much as how
Inside the conditioned part of the house. Not the garage, not the attic, not a shed, and ideally not against an exterior wall.
The problem in those places is not just heat, it is heat cycling. Temperature and humidity swinging up and down repeatedly is harder on fabric than a steady warm temperature, and garages and attics swing the most.
Fold or hang?
Hang structured things: jackets, coats, tailored dresses. Fold knitwear, because hanging stretches it out of shape permanently at the shoulders.
Leave air space between hanging garments. Clothes packed tightly cannot breathe, and in this climate that is how a whole rail goes musty together.
Check on things
Look at stored clothes a couple of times a year. You are checking for any musty smell, any mark appearing, and any sign of insects. Catching something in month three is a treatable problem. Finding it in month twenty is often not.
Clean before you store
We can collect everything, clean it and have it back to you ready to put away. That is a far better use of a free pickup than most people realise.
Call 954 983 7519 or request a free pickup. See our dry cleaning page.
La Mar 1 Hour Dry Cleaners, 6430 Pembroke Rd, Miramar, FL 33023. Family run since 1962.