
Caring for clothes isn’t always easy – especially not for men. Today’s men’s fashion designers use a wide range of textiles, weaves, and fabric treatments to create their garments. It is not surprising that all this creates quite a maintenance maze. Many prefer that their shirts be handled by professional dry cleaners that often times charge $2 or even $3 per shirt. For the daily suit and tie wearer shirt cleaning alone can be over a $1,000 per year. Besides savings, washing and ironing your shirts at home is often times much easier on the fabrics.
What’s the Difference?
Taking your shirts to a store can only result in one of two things. The priciest option is to actually have your shirt dry cleaned each and every time, at around $6 a pop. The other alternative is to have them machine wash your shirts at about $2 each. It’s change for the high-money fashion industry, but big bucks for you when you add it all up.
Neither are completely ideal situations. The chemicals used in dry cleaning can be rough on the fabrics, and can speed up the wear and tear process. Machine washing is equally problematic, if not even more so. Aside from using industrial strength detergents that take a toll on the cotton,burberry scarf, the machine pressing step tends to wear your shirt buttons out even faster. Asking for hand pressing brings the cost back to dry cleaning levels.
Cotton shirts – even the most expensive custom jobs – are ideally washed and pressed by hand. This avoids the rough tumble process of machine washing, where they can get beat up by the agitator’s action. At the same time, doing all this yourself gives you more control over the stuff that comes into contact with your shirts. And then, of course, there’s the money that you get to save, too.
DIY Shirt Washing
Washing any style and fabric of shirt all boils down to just two things: the temperature of the water and the chemicals you use. Using just the right combination of both is the key to making each and every shirt of yours last as long as it should.
Start things off with some detergent – preferably a hypoallergenic one, as these are the gentlest on both your skin and the fabric – in room temperature to lukewarm water. Don’t load your shirts in the machine or basin until the soap’s mixed well; direct contact can fade colors. If you’re using a machine, set it at the lowest speed (usually called a hand wash setting) and use your usual wash cycle. For rinsing, use cold water instead.
Bleach is only a good idea for white shirts so that you help prevent those nasty yellow spots around the collar and at the armpits. Your sweat is the biggest contributor to these spots, so learn the fashion of an undershirt if you want to minimize them. Color-safe bleaches are also available in most supermarkets, but use these sparingly.
A Short Note on Starch
Using starch on your shirts will add a crisp look and slightly stiffer feel. This is especially desirable on collar and cuffs. Use starch sparingly as starch can dry up natural fibers which will eventually start to fray and break.
Shirt Care 101
Garment care isn’t something that you learn from fashion magazines, but it’s something you should pick up anyway. Start by reading those care labels sewn into your shirt, by the label or along one of the lengthwise seams. Those labels are there to be followed, period.
Some shirts actually do require dry cleaning for every time you use them. Many fabric blends fall into category. If the care label says “dry clean only,” then follow it! The labels also specify the ironing temperatures and chemicals you can use with the shirt.
Button your shirt up as much as possible, even when you’re not wearing it, to help it keep its shape. This is crucial if you’re going to subject it to the pressure in a washing machine.
For style pieces that are as basic as shirts, each one is more than just a purchase – it’s an investment. As with any investment, you’ll most likely want to get the highest return, times worn in this case, possible.
Related Readings:
How to Fit a Dress Shirt
Cleaning a Silk Tie
Evelyn on July 19th, 2010 | File Under Breaking News | No Comments -