How to wash your winter coats like a laundry expert

How to wash your winter coats Laundry expert Melissa Pateras has tips on how to safely wash winter coats as cold weather comes.

Canadian winters can bring salt, slush and wet weather, wreaking havoc on outdoor clothing.

Melissa Pateras, who shares laundry tips on her popular TikTok account, shows people how to wash their winter jackets to ensure they can be used for years. Some jackets are not machine washable.

"If it says dry clean, you want to dry clean it," she told CTV's Your Morning on Thursday.

Cleaning a coat should start with checking the pockets and ensuring zippers and snaps are done up, she said. From there, Pateras said each material requires slightly different treatment to ensure it is washed safely.

"Take your wool coat (and) brush off any loose dirt or debris with a brush," Pateras said. "Take the coat and you're going to flip it inside out. And then at this point, once it's inside out, you're going to fold it and you can either put it into a garment bag, or what I do is just use an old pillowcase."

From there, Pateras said the coat should be washed on a gentle setting in cold water and left to air dry.

For all tips on washing wool, down-filled and fur coats, click the video at the top of this article.