How To Preserve A Sports Jersey
Jerseys and uniforms are one of the most popular forms of sports memorabilia…and also some of the most valuable. They are also some of the easiest to damage. Therefore, you want to preserve a sports jersey if you intend to keep it over the long run.
Sports jerseys can be personally significant even if not particularly valuable, or they can have great value as a collector’s item.
How do you preserve a sports jersey though?
Jersey Preservation: The Wiles Of Textiles
Jersey preservation is essentially the preservation of a textile, so all the same guidelines apply to preserving a sports jersey as it does to preserving any other article of clothing or piece of cloth. This can be for the museum, the serious collector, or just the guy who wants to hang on to a sports uniform that either he wore or a favorite player did at some point.
The interest in preservation can be nearly anything, either for nostalgic purposes, historical purposes, or — for some serious collectors — financial reasons, if holding on to a particular jersey in the hopes of sale at a higher price later on. The latter instance would make preservation that much more pressing, as it’s guarding a valuable asset…though people can have emotional attachments that run far deeper than that of mere money.
What, then are key elements to preserving a jersey or other textile?
Guard Against UV Rays, Humidity And Heat When Preserving A Jersey
The first step is to ensure that your storage medium offers adequate protection against the elements. Specifically, you need to guard against UV rays, heat and humidity.
Ultraviolet light, or more specifically sunlight, bombards us and everything else with ultraviolet radiation. This can cause fabrics to fade, changing the appearance and significantly degrading the value.
Heat and humidity can also damage appearance, but can also cause stitching to fray. Sufficient humidity can also cause mold to grow and if unchecked, eventually will cause rot to occur.
These need to be controlled to preserve a jersey in good condition.
How Should You Store The Jersey?
There are three main ways to store a jersey: flat, rolled or hung. The latter is most obvious; you put the jersey on a hanger and then put into plastic.
Rolling the jersey allows for easier storage, as it becomes very compact, but you need to make sure your storage medium controls for heat, humidity and UV light. Believe it or not, plastic bags are not a good choice, which we’ll go over shortly.
Flat and unfolded is most ideal. Jersey display cases allow for this type of storage, though without requiring the use of a hanger.
Which is best? Unless you need to roll the jersey for long-term storage, flat is actually best. Hanging the jersey can damage the shoulders of the garment as they stretch — albeit not to an egregious degree — when draped over the hangar. Additionally, plastic garment bags can keep out UV light but can’t do much about heat or humidity.
Flat storage, especially in a display case, doesn’t stress the garment with the hangar and if you’ve selected the proper sports jersey display case, keeps UV light out. If stored in cool, dry place…you can preserve the jersey for decades without issue.
Selecting A Jersey Storage Method
What you want to look for in a jersey storage method is UV protection, first and foremost, but you also want to avoid cheap plastic.
You see, a lot of people will roll up jerseys and store them in a freezer bag, but this is not an ideal method. Those plastics give off trace gases that will erode the fabric over time and give them a plastic smell. The same goes for plastic bins, even if stored inside the house.
Glass is also good, but it is expensive and glass cases can take up significant interior space. Glass jersey display cases will press the jersey flat, making for good storage, but only a few collectors can afford the expense and space that glass displays require.
Acrylic jersey display cases offer the best of all worlds for many people. These offer UV protection as well as protecting against heat and humidity if stored in a reasonably controlled environment. Many are highly affordable, and they take up less space than glass display cases. Some are even designed to be stackable, perfect for long-term storage.
So, if you’re looking to preserve a jersey, you’ll have to determine which storage medium is best for you, but those are the best methods of doing so.
