I always hand-wash my kilt hose, give them a short spin in the washing machine and then hang dry them (preferably outside in the fresh air). This can be anything up to a dozen pairs a week.

On a slight tangent: I notice many of you refer to "cold wash" settings on your washing machines. Is this an option, I wonder, found only in the USA? I have owned four washing machines in my (short) existence on this planet and none of them has had a cold wash setting. Warm maybe, but not cold. I have checked with my immediate neighbours, and neither of them has a cold wash setting on their machine.

Also, I don't have a drier, and never have. I assume we are talking of a tumble drier here? Those things are exessively heavy on power consumption and are definitely not environmentally friendly - or so I am led to believe.