Need help with cleaning my surplus coat

I bought a German Snorkel Parka. Here's the inner tag. I gather this means maybe machine wash cold/warm? Do not Iron, no triangles? What's the circled "P" for?

Made of 65% contton/35% polyester tightly woven outer shell, and has a removeable synthetic fur inner lining.

There is an E-Bay sale on what I would swear to be the same coat that states it is machine washable. I have not gotten a reply back from them yet.

Other than the universal symbols I never bothered to learn, there are no clear washing instructions in my coat in Deutsch or English (though there was a 5 Pfenning coin in one of the pockets!

The symbols are they key here, I think.

Machine wash — 60 C is 140 F, so no hotter than that (I think).

"No Triangle" means no bleach.

Do not iron.

The circled P is a dry-cleaning code: Clean with solvents other than Trichloroethylene.

http://www.tide.com/articles/read.jhtml?articleId=3090

http://www.textileaffairs.com/common.htm


-Mike

Awesome! That really helps! I jut removed the crackly water proof lining in the shoulders and re-sewed the seams. Now I'll toss it into the wash on cold with a light tumble dry.

Mostly I want to get rid of the surplus store smell... My wife won't me near her when I wear the thing! Not that wearing a coat and being near my wife are... well... Never mind.

A little white vinegar or Odoban in the wash will help with the smell as well
Throw a scented dryer sheet in when you dry it.. The wife will appreciate it
Jayn

Originally posted by Jayn@Mar 29 2006, 11:29 PM
A little white vinegar or Odoban in the wash will help with the smell as well
Throw a scented dryer sheet in when you dry it.. The wife will appreciate it
Jayn

[snapback]1215916[/snapback]

I air dried it last night. I'll throw it in the laundry again tonight and delicates-dry it with three softner sheets! Won't the vinegar stain it or something?

Not white vinegar, I've used it to get out stains before, it leaves no stain itself.

Sweet. Thanks.

I tried the Vinegar and used about 4 softner sheets... the smell is mostly gone. I figure wearing and airing it out will do the trick as well as subsiquent washings. I did have to sew a button back on that came off in the was, but other than that, it's perfect.

Oh, and I also had to cut out the cracking poly-whatever shoulder liner. It sounded like I had dry leaves stuffed into the coat that crinkled every time I moved even a little bit. I had to re-sew some of the seams, but over all it was only a 45 minute job.

I'll post some pix soon next to some Jayne's Town screen caps .