Style solutions: 10 clothing HACKS everybody needs to know

1. Prevent ladders with hairspray

While you have no doubt applied nail varnish to ladders, a tried and trusted way of preventing them in the first place is to spray your tights with hairspray.

2. Make your own easy leather stain-remover

A simple solution of cold water and vinegar will remove stains from your leather shoes and jackets.

3. Remove shoe odours with baking soda

If your shoes are a little bit worse for wear, stick a sachet of baking soda inside to absorb the odours until your next outing.

4. Use ice to remove gum

Chewing gum is a major nuisance when it comes to clothes, and many people make a royal mess of removing it. Try rubbing the gum with an ice cube, making sure that the gum is as hard as possible before pulling off.

5. Iron collars with your hair straightener

You’re ironing your shirt and it’s all going well – until you reach that pesky collar. A guaranteed way to ensure a wrinkle-free collar is to run your straightening plates over it.

6. Use baby powder on oil stains

Many consider a garment ruined once it falls victim to an oil stain, but there is a very simply solution: spill some baby powder over the stain and leave it overnight.

7. De-bobble with a razor

Have a favourite pair of jeans or sweater that didn’t wear as well as you imagined? Grab your razor and run it over those bobbles – it will look as good as new.

8. Use lemon juice on sweat stains

If you are about to put on a shirt that tends to soak up sweat stains, simply spray the soon-to-be affected area with lemon juice to prevent absorption into the material.

9. Stretch out your shoes with ice

How many of us will go ahead and purchase a pair of shoes, even if they don’t fit perfectly in the store? If you can relate, and you need to stretch out a pair, fill plastic bags with water and sit them into the shoes, placing them in the freezer overnight.

10. Reattach strings with a safety pin

We can all relate to the struggle of losing a string from a sweater or your pyjama-bottoms. To get the string back in, attach a safety pin at one end and get to work on pulling it through. The pin will provide a solid base to make the task easier.