How to Prevent Clothes Moths

Transcription

Hi I'm Kirby Allison, and welcome to my home. We love helping the well-dressed take care of their wardrobes. In today's video, I'm going to be talking about how to protect your wardrobe against the devastation of clothing moths. Wherever you may live, all wardrobes are susceptible to clothing moths. Unfortunately, there is just no good information readily available about how to protect your wardrobe against clothing moths and also what to do in the unfortunate event you have a clothing moth infestation. If you're someone like me, that is really into quality clothing and has invested in your wardrobe, this is something that is definitely worth taking time to do. Don't be like me and wait too long to implement some of these techniques and then discover that some of your favorite pieces fell victim to a clothing moth. If you have any questions or comments during this video, please feel free to ask them in the comments section below. I get back to all those questions personally.

Clothes moths are tiny little bugs that feed on a protein called keratin. Now, keratin is a naturally occurring protein on animals, which is why clothing moths only go after products that are wool, cashmere, furs, feathers, anything that is a natural animal byproduct. A moth infestation can be devastating, and because they are so difficult to detect, by the time you discover that you have a problem, too often it is too late to save your favorite items of clothing. There are two types of clothing moths, case making moths, which palpate on what they are infesting, so if they're attacking a red jacket their cocoon will be red. These moths are easier to detect because they are more easily spotted. Webbing moths, on the other hand are the most difficult to detect because they palpate in what they are infesting. The total life cycle of a moth from egg to adult is about 30 days. So, if you haven't detected any clothing moths for a 30-day period you could be confident that you don't have an infestation at that moment. Anyone with a significant wardrobe should take proactive steps in protecting their wardrobe against clothing moths. Moth prevention can really be thought of in three basic categories: The physical protection of the garment themselves, closet hygiene, and then garment activity. This needs to be paired with the professional moth detection solution to quickly identify problems if they do occur.

First is physical protection. Items that you wear frequently say more than once a month aren't going to be something that are going to fall victim to clothing moths. But those items that you have and long-term storage or aren't pulling out of the closet very frequently or have stacked in a corner, those are the items that moths are going to go after first. For this reason, it is essential to store infrequently worn or out of season garments and our Hanger Project luxury garment bag. Since our Kirby Allison garment bags are constructed from an 8 1/2 oz. cotton twill, not only do they allow the garment to breathe, but it also provides a bulletproof protection against moths. since moths don't eat cotton. One of the features of our luxury garment bags is that we actually use buttonholes at the top for the closure. Now this is deliberate because it allows the garment bag to seal on the hanger and just eliminates one other point of entry that a moth could possibly penetrate the garment bag through. Our garment bags also feature at two-and-a-half-inch gusset that is fully fused to give the bag structure. So, it's not going to collapse onto the garment itself and we have a convenient see-through window that allows you to see into the bag to easily identify what's being stored. Or you can use this to store your business card if you're traveling, or I even sometimes will label what's in the bag right here.

Next, we have our luxury sweaters storage box. This box is constructed from a thick cardboard. Now sweater boxes aren't bullet proof protection, but if you're really good about making sure they're sealed, or maybe have a few things sitting on top of them, then the side barrier is going to seal against the lid and provide a nice barrier. Dirty soiled clothing that is allowed to sit for over 30 days can become a target. Frequently remove any dirty clothes from your closet. Also make a point to vacuum your closet regularly and use the extender to clean corners which can accumulate dust and it might be a touch extreme to even have a hospital grade HEPA air filter in my closet, but anything I can do to keep the environment as clean as possible is going to help provide that added protection against clothes moths. Lastly, be sure to close your door and turn off the lights whenever you're not in your closet. I do this not only because it's just one additional barrier against clothes moths, but it also protects my wardrobe against its second greatest risk, which is my children.

And lastly, you can protect your wardrobe just by actively rotating and wearing your wardrobe. Moths are very fragile, and so any garment that you're wearing frequently, you're not going to have to worry about. And so, I suggest any item that you're not wearing frequently but you don't have a garment storage bag, pull that out of your closet and just shake it every once in a while, to just provide a little bit of movement. And this is our new Kirby Allison Sovereign Grade Ebony Garment Brush, and you can use this to just brush the fabric to again get anything that might be on top of that fabric off. And despite even your best efforts, a moth infestation can still occur. That's why it's critical to also actively monitor for moths using a moth trap.

Here at Kirby Allison's Hanger Project, we sell a professional-grade moth trap from Insects Ltd. This is the same moth trap that a professional exterminator would be using, and we make this available to you through our website. Now this uses a professional grade pheromone, which is essentially the same type of pheromone you read in the back of Esquire magazine, that's going to attract clothing moths. Now what's incredible about this quality in grade of pheromone is that the Mott's will actually travel up to 25 to 30 feet to come to this. It is essential to have a moth trap in your closet to proactively detect moth problems as soon as possible. The longer they go undetected, the more damage they cause the pheromones and our moth traps are affected for up to 90 days. So, you want to make sure you write the date that you open the pheromones on the moth trap itself so you can ensure that you're rotating these properly. Place them in a dark far corner of your closet, the type of corner that's most susceptible to moths, and of course make sure you don't forget to check your moth trap frequently so that you can see if you have any moths on the trap itself.

I recently ran into a moth problem and I was in denial as I saw moths flying out of my closet that I actually had a problem. Had I been using a moth trap, I would have known immediately that these were in fact clothing moths that were eating one of my favorite jackets. One of the most frustrating things for me was how difficult it was to find readily available and practical information about how to treat a moth infestation in a large closet. So, if you're bringing anything into your closet that has been stored somewhere else or you don't know where it's been, always inspect that piece for moth eggs or larva. If you want to be completely sure, either steam that garment which will immediately kill the moth regardless at what life stage it's in, or treat it with heat treatment. Our ZappBug Heaters are essentially an insulated oven that you can put tremendous amount of clothing in, zip closed, turn on the heaters, elevate that temperature to above 130 degrees Fahrenheit, hold it there for 30 minutes, and you can be confident that you're killing absolutely any clothes moths that anywhere in there. And of course, dry-cleaning will absolutely kill anything that might be on the garment.

I hope you found this video on protecting your wardrobe from clothes moths helpful and don't end up in a situation like I did where you pull one of your favorite jackets out of your closet to find that it had been eaten by clothes moths. If you have any questions about anything I discussed in this video, or any products we recommended, please feel free to ask them in the comments section below. I get back to all those questions personally. If you like this video, give us the thumbs up. Or better yet subscribe to our channel and turn on notifications by clicking the bell so that you can learn whenever we release new videos. And of course, please take a moment to visit hangerproject.com where you'll find the largest, most extensive collection of luxury garment care and shoe care products available anywhere in the world in addition to other accessories for the well-dressed. While you're there, sign up for our newsletter so that you can receive notifications whenever we launch new products, run promotions, as well as our weekly digest of videos we release here on this YouTube channel. I'm Kirby Allison, and thank you for joining me in my home.