Restoring My Anthropologie Sophie Faux Fur Blanket to Like New Condition

I’ve bought a lot of shit from Anthropologie over the years, but the Sophie Faux Fur blanket might be my favourite purchase of all time. I’ve probably purchased six or seven of these as gifts. They’re probably the most raved about gift I’ve given. For people I’ve gifted these to as a wedding present, they have often been coopted by one partner of the couple, sending the other to pick up a blanket of their own.

It’s just such a high-quality faux fur, so unbelievably plush (even compared to blankets at higher price points), and has a nice weight to it.

My sister even has a theory that men tend to prefer using it with the fuzzy side down, and women prefer the fuzzy side up… So far her hypothesis has held true for 90% of cases.

However, this well loved blanket has a “dry clean only” tag… But, dry cleaning uses a lot of chemicals and isn’t great for the environment so I’ve washed this on cold and hung to dry a couple times.

The only thing is, the fur wasn’t “like new”. The fur wasn’t matting, but there was some residual clumping. This probably doesn’t bother most people, but it just bothered me when comparing this to the new ones how it wasn’t *exactly the same* as when I brought it home.

Do you see how the fur has sort of tufted together?

So since, with the success of my revitilization of other faux fur items, I got my tool kit back out and this is how I got rid of this very minor clumpy situation.

The brushes I had the most success with were the Tangle Teezer and the boar bristle hair brush – the latter with the best results. Slicker brush was too harsh (unsurprisingly, but I always give it a go because that’s what people on the Internet like to use apparently), and the Wet Brush’s bristles were too sparse.

STEP 1

Wash blanket by itself on a cold, delicate cycle (I use a front loading HE machine)

STEP 2

Hang to dry with the fur part facing up

STEP 3

Gently run palms back and forth to gently fluff the fur back up

Step 4

When the blanket is dry, using a soft boar bristle hair brush, brush the fur in all directions, working in small sections (like a square foot or two at a time). No matter what brush you use, make sure you wash it/shampoo it thoroughly first, removing it of hair, dirt and oils.

Step 5

Mist the area with a spritz of True Blue Conditioner. The conditioner is key to cut down on the static generated by brushing.

I use this conditioner instead of a fabric softener because it has a minimalist ingredient list that is all-natural, and truly, completely weightless. Fabric softeners can also build up in fabrics and end up feeling gross over time.

See how silky smooth the faux fur is now? Good as new!

I have other restoration guides for:

• Faux Sherpa

• Regular Faux Fur

• Wispy Faux Fur