I've machine washed basically all my woolen stuff (jackets excepted) for the last two decades. Sweaters in cashmere, alpaca, camel and lambswool, socks in wool, camel and yak - all have always come out without injury, be it shrinkage, stretching or excessive wear. That's what the wool program is for, after all.

The tumble dryer on the other hand is guaranteed to destroy anything woollen, but if you're dim enough to put it in there in the first place then you don't really deserve to own nice stuff.

Wool trousers I take to the dry cleaners, but then I hardly ever wear them. Funerals, weddings and whatnot only, which thankfully happen only very rarely.

 

And then you press them yourself?

 

I'm not sure why some find it more appealing to wash vs. dry clean wool garments. Washing, especially in a machine, can have somewhat unpredictable results. Even worse to tumble dry whether using heat or no heat. Why not lay flat on a drying rack?

I don't dry clean often. I'll steam wool garments and will clean only if they are actually soiled with food or something else. I've dry cleaned wool and cashmere garments as needed and have never experienced any deterioration in the texture, suppleness or any of the other qualities of the garment.