Hwo to make the pleats stay?

[YangJin]

I heard from my Kendo seniors that if you tie or fold your Hakama wrongly, you'll soon begin to lose the pleats. Like don't go dry clean your Hakama and stuff like that. Just fold, soak it with salt to preserve the colour and then air it and do not put under direct sunlight.

Are there any other advice or anything I should take note of?

[Charuzu]

Fell free to ignore my advice as I am a noobie.

Yes, folding the hakama is the most important thing. This can be found on the ASKUF web-site.
Also, as for the color I put my hakama in viniger-water.

Hope this helped. ^o^

[Anime12478]

Yeah, putting your hakama in the washing machine would do bad for the pleats and the material as a whole. But it also depends on the material. If it is made of tetron, then you can just throw it in the washing machine and the pleats will still come out fine. But if you are using cotton, then you would have to worry more about the pleats.

If you haven't gotten a hakama yet, I would suggest getting the tetron for now until you know how to fold properly and consistantly. After that, then you can get the cotton. This is what I am doing now so I don't have to worry about pleats going out due to not having practiced folding.

[YangJin]

I really need to learn how to rush about typing my messages because I just noticed that I spelt How as Hwo.

I have already gotten my Hakama and my Gi. I usually air them until I find out how to wash them properly.

[Kmav]

Just wash it folded and your pleats will stay.

[Landorph]

my indiego Hakama is almost gone.. BUt I'm saving it..

the first day i got it.. my mom took it.. "omg its bleeding color" chucked in the washing machine.. washed like 3 times.. and spin dried my Hakama.. ><

yeah well Cotton ones.. you can save it.. buy folding it properly.. clip the pleats.. let it hang dry and fold it again.. maybe iron it with a tower over the top.. and fold again..

but alot of heavy stuff on it.. to keep the pleats lines..

should be fine...

I now wash it once every 2 weeks... same thing...... well.. it definately doesn't look as good as when it came out of the box.

[YangJin]

Point taken, thanks!

[ernie]

if you are going to wash it, fold it while it is still slightly damp, or else lie it flat under a matress(pleats in place) and sleep on it for a night, and the pleats will come out grisp as new. just make sure it isnt a slat bed!

[j2023]

i hand wash my stuff, hang to dry and use

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6222679&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat48300050014&id=1072287998351

that item to get the wrinkles out and to keep the pleats looking the best i can.

[Kendoka]

my indiego Hakama is almost gone.. BUt I'm saving it..

the first day i got it.. my mom took it.. "omg its bleeding color" chucked in the washing machine.. washed like 3 times.. and spin dried my Hakama.. ><

yeah well Cotton ones.. you can save it.. buy folding it properly.. clip the pleats.. let it hang dry and fold it again.. maybe iron it with a tower over the top.. and fold again..

but alot of heavy stuff on it.. to keep the pleats lines..

should be fine...

I now wash it once every 2 weeks... same thing...... well.. it definately doesn't look as good as when it came out of the box.

Lesson 1: Never :wink: let a woman near your kendo stuff!

Why wash it every two weeks? Surely it isn't dirty?
The point of using natural indigo dye is that it has natural anti-bacterial qualities, so it probably won't smell after two weeks, even in summer.

I allow my hakama to air dry after each session, hanging upside down with all the pleats arranged and the sides folded in (like when you unfold it), when it is dry I fold it and stack it under my gi. I iron it every now and then when it needs it.

I wash mine by placing it flat in the bath that has slightly warm water with a little laundry detergent, I then walk up and down on it, sort of squeezing the dirt out of it. I rinse it in clean water the same way, then hang it up to dry as described above, someweher airy and out of the sun.

When dry iron if needed and fold ready for use.

[YangJin]

A question, if you lose the pleat, is there anyway to get it back?

[Julian D]

A question, if you lose the pleat, is there anyway to get it back?

Sure, you just need the other two pleats that surround it to find the position of the lost pleat. When they are in their respective positions, the remaining fold of fabric should naturally lead you to the line where the pleat should be marked and ironed.

If you lose all the pleats... then... that never happened to me, I´d look for a Japanese cleaner who knows (verified) how to treat hakama! Luckily there´s a lot of excellent Japanese cleaners in my city, so I can sleep at ease even if I mess up when washing+ironing my hakama :D