Clothes brush

The clothes brush is for dusting off a coat, a jacket or a pair of wool trousers before putting them away, and for removing pet hair, lint and dried rain marks. A quick brush after each outing means fewer trips to the dry cleaner.

The handle is oiled pear wood, a dense, fine-grained wood, with a leather loop for hanging it up. The bristles are stiff black boar bristle, which picks up dust without pulling at the fibres. It is made in Germany by Redecker, a family brush maker in Versmold.

Brush the garment flat or on a hanger, with the weave, in long strokes from the collar downwards. On a mud stain, let it dry, then brush it off dry. Clean the brush against a comb; keep water away from the pear wood.