As the year draws to a close, why not make time to care for the items you love?

Time flies, and there are only a few days left in this year.

Once the countdown to the new year begins, it's natural to start wondering if there's anything left undone.

This time, we'd like to introduce the idea of caring for your favorite items as the year comes to a close, and share the maintenance tasks that are especially worth doing during this season. When it comes to year-end tasks, the first thing that comes to mind is osoji, the big year-end cleaning. With a burst of energy, we finally tackle the kitchen grease and bathtub scum we've been ignoring all year. It's strange how, once all that grime is scrubbed away and everything is sparkling clean, our hearts feel lighter too—as if something has been lifted—and we feel ready to welcome the new year in both body and spirit.

Even though the year changes, today is always simply a continuation of yesterday. In truth, it's just another winter day, no different from any other. And yet, the end of the year resonates deeply with us as a meaningful turning point.

This time, we'll walk you through some handy care items for tending to your favorite belongings during this year-end season, and hand-pick some helpful articles from ZUTTO's past features on care and maintenance.

With a wish of "see you again next year" in mind, why not spend some time caring for the things you love?

【Since winter is still ahead, now is the perfect time】

The season of osoji, around December, falls right in the middle of winter—the cold will continue until around February, so your coats, scarves, and heavy sweaters still have several more months of duty ahead of them. The most significant turning point for clothes is the seasonal changeover, but if you can take the time to give everything a thorough once-over at this year-end point, before that changeover comes, it holds real meaning for taking good care of your clothes, coats, and bags.

For example,

・You can check how the new pieces you bought in early autumn have started to develop their character over time.

・By giving things a thorough maintenance right in the middle of the season, you can

continue to enjoy them in better condition through the latter half of the season.

・It's a good opportunity to notice any dirt or stains, and address them right away with the appropriate care.

As these points show, because winter is still ahead of us, this is exactly the right time to give your favorite items some self-care.

【Things you'll want for a full round of maintenance on your favorite items】

If you've decided to take the plunge and give all the fashion items you're currently wearing a thorough round of care, here are some handy maintenance items to have on hand.

▼All-purpose leather oil & cream

Bags, shoes, wallets.

Among the things we've used for a long time, there tend to be quite a few leather items. Figuring out exactly which leather-care items you need can be a real puzzle. Do you have old shoe creams or oils sitting mostly unused in your shoe box? Even products you've kept meaning to use up, thinking "this should still be fine," may have ingredients that have degraded over time. If you notice an odd smell, separation, or anything else that seems off, this is a good opportunity to dispose of them and reconsider your care items altogether.

Of course, you could stock up on creams and oils matched to every type, condition, and color of leather, but if you're trying to handle all your maintenance at once, that would take considerable time and effort. At minimum, a single "colorless cream" is enough to do the job well. We recommend something like "Läder Pflege Creme," a favorite among many ZUTTO staff members, which spreads easily, gently lifts dirt, and leaves leather moisturized with a nice sheen.

The Tapir cream shown in the photo is made without petroleum-based oils or organic solvents, using naturally derived ingredients such as beeswax and carnauba wax. Compared to oil, cream has the advantage of "spreading well in small amounts" and "being less likely to leave uneven patches," making it especially convenient when you want to care for multiple pairs of shoes at once. Start with a single colorless cream as your base, and add oil or a firmer, more moisturizing cream when dryness is a concern, or a tinted cream when you want to restore color to fading or scuffed areas—choosing your care items according to the condition of the leather you're treating.

▼Clothes brush & thread scissors

The clothes brush and thread scissors are an indispensable pair for caring for knitwear. The process is simple: snip away any pilling on scarves or sweaters with the thread scissors, then use the clothes brush to smooth the fibers back into place. If you already care for your knits this way regularly, your usual routine should be fine, but keep in mind that dust and lint may have built up in the brush itself, so this is a good moment to check on that.

Take a look at the base of the bristles on your clothes brush—has fiber and dust from your clothing built up there? If you can remove it by running your fingers through the bristles, do so; if that's difficult, prepare an unused comb and gently brush from the base of the bristles outward to clear away the debris. No matter how diligently you brush your clothes, if the brush itself is dirty, it can actually work against you—so this year-end season is a good time to check the condition of your clothes brush too.

【What do you do in these situations? Common year-end care questions.】

"At the year-end party, the smell got into my favorite knit"

Standing near the steam at a teppanyaki restaurant, the smell of the food clung to my clothes….

Coming home from a dinner gathering with a lot of people, my clothes smell of cigarette smoke….

The year-end season, when opportunities to meet people and go out for meals increase, is also a time when we pay extra attention to how we dress—but if we're not careful, our favorite knitwear or coats can easily end up smelling of something else. If you're wearing something you can take off on the spot, like a knit cardigan or wool coat that can't be washed right away, try taking it off inside the restaurant, folding it neatly, placing it in a bag, and covering it with a handkerchief. Doing this much would be ideal, but it's not always easy to manage. If your clothes do end up smelling, once you get home, give them a quick spray of deodorizing spray, then hang them up in a well-ventilated spot.

Fabric Fresh by THE LAUNDRESS is one example of a spray designed to avoid damaging clothing while also leaving no strong lingering scent. Keeping one tucked away in your bag means you can take care of things even while you're out, which is reassuring.

"Worried about sweat stains on my wool slippers"

Slipper care is something people surprisingly tend to forget, even though slippers are used indoors every day. Many people switch to wool slippers around October, when their feet start to feel the cold, and keep wearing them through around March, when the weather grows milder again. Wool is a popular material for winter slippers, but since we often wear them barefoot, continuing to wear them without any care is, when you think about it, much like wearing the same pair of socks over and over without ever washing them.

Wool has a property known as "felting," where it shrinks tightly and becomes stiff when it gets wet. Because of this, many wool slippers are made using wool that has already been felted beforehand, so that they can be safely washed by hand at home.

If your slippers are washable, try washing them

1. Soak the slippers in lukewarm water with a small amount of neutral detergent, and wash them by gently pressing.

2. After pressing them to wash, rinse thoroughly with lukewarm water.

3. Either run a short spin cycle in the washing machine, or wrap the slippers in a towel to remove excess moisture.

4. Reshape them and let them dry in the shade.

following these steps.

Washing wool can sometimes bring out the characteristic smell of animal fiber more strongly, so be sure to dry the slippers thoroughly and completely.

　>>> See our hint content, "Wash and Care For: Everyday-Use Slippers"

[This Year's Memories, Deepened Alongside the Things You Love]

When you take time to face the things you love and use every day, you sometimes find yourself remembering, almost out of nowhere, the day you first got that item, or where you went wearing those shoes, or who you met while wearing that coat—little memories from daily life come drifting back. Only a little of this year remains, but winter, when we can't do without our sweaters and coats, still has a ways to go.

Finally, we've picked out a few care-related articles from among those we've introduced before that will be helpful for looking after winter materials—please take a look if they're of use to you.

Thank you for this year, and looking forward to next year too—with that feeling in mind, why not apply some cream to your shoes, or run a brush over your stole?

While caring for the things you love, we hope you welcome a wonderful new year.

▼Five steps you can take now to enjoy your coat for years to come