Is your closet brimming with official jerseys of the NHL? Do you own almost every team’s home and away? Keep it up if you do, get to it if you don’t! I have a few jerseys of my own and when I started collecting them I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to take care of them properly.

Hockey jerseys are unique, they aren’t like every day shirts like basketball jerseys and they’ve got different kinds of patch work and material all over the place. They also aren’t like other memorabilia because jerseys are both valuable and wearable. We want to be able to take them out and wear them to our favorite games or while we play in our bands.

There are a few basic things to keep in mind when trying to maintain the integrity of your hockey jerseys:

1. Don’t play hockey in them:

I know, I know. It kind of defeats the purpose of owning a hockey jersey if you can’t wear it to actually play hockey but if you have a really expensive authentic retro jersey you don’t want to get sweat all over it. Boards, ice, blood, sweat and tears are risks of playing hockey and in order to keep the sweaters as pristine as possible its best to avoid skating in them. You wouldn’t want them to get sliced open the next time some jerk hooks you.

2. Hang to dry:

Take care when washing your hockey jerseys if they do manage to get dirty. There is a specific method to it so that you don’t lose any of the bright colors or damage any of the patch work.

You’ll want to wash them in cold water on a gentle cycle. Tumble dry them on the lowest or air-dry setting for no more than 20-30 minutes. That will get the wrinkles out of them so you can then hang them up on a clothes line or towel wrack to finish off the drying.

Never bleach, iron, or dry-clean your jerseys. You run the risk of discoloring, burning, or shredding your precious keepsake. Just don’t do it.

3. Store them properly:

Yeah its cool to put them up in a picture frame over your bed or in your sports den but if you’re looking to keep these things forever and where them now and then, that won’t cut it. Store them in a dry closet space with some plastic on sturdy hangers.

Don’t ever stop collecting those jerseys because the NHL is never going to stop creating new ones. Teams seem to come out with a new pattern almost every season. Take care of your hockey jerseys and they will take care of you.