Care
Washing a Taggies toy without ruining the satin
A toy that lives in a mouth and a stroller will need washing, often. Here is the routine we use on our own samples.
Before anything touches water
Check the sewn-in care label first, because a few of our pieces with electronics or wooden rings are surface-wash only. For everything else, close any hook-and-loop fasteners, clip the toy inside a pillowcase or a mesh laundry bag, and wash it with towels rather than with zippered jeans.
The pillowcase is not superstition. Satin is a smooth weave, and a zipper tooth catching one thread can pull a shiny line across a tag that never goes away.
Machine settings that work
Cold or warm water on a gentle cycle, mild detergent, no bleach and no fabric softener. Softener coats plush fibers and dulls the two things people like most about these toys, the loft of the pile and the slip of the satin.
Crinkle layers ride through a gentle wash fine, since the crackle film is sealed between fabric layers. Rattles are the same, the sound comes from a sealed capsule. What neither likes is a hot dryer.
Drying, the slow way
Air dry, flat, away from a radiator. Heat is the enemy here twice over: it can wrinkle satin permanently and it stiffens crinkle film into silence. Squeeze the toy in a dry towel first and most of our pieces are dry by morning.
Brush the plush with your fingers once it is dry and the pile lifts back up. The tags need nothing, satin dries first and comes out of the wash the way it went in.
Ten minutes of caution per wash keeps the satin doing its thing for years of laundry days.
