POLL: HOW Do You WASH Your DRESS SHIRTS?

[jamespowers]

If you don't use the services of a very expensive highly specialized cleaner like ravefabricare I believe professional laundering tends to shorten the life of your shirts rather than extend it.

I have never experienced this. I have had the dry cleaner do my shirts with heavy starch for decades without any problems. I even still have most of those shirts. It all depends upon the quality of the shirts you start with.

 

[samtemporary]

Same here. I dry clean all my dress clothes and military uniforms without any problems. I have for years.

 

[Guttersnipe]

If you don't use the services of a very expensive highly specialized cleaner like ravefabricare I believe professional laundering tends to shorten the life of your shirts rather than extend it.

True perhaps, depending on the clearers. In the US, though, it's hard to avoid agitator column washing machines, which are very rough on clothes. Hand washing is always an option, but have you ever tried to press unfused cotton collars and cuffs? I can think of better ways to spend my time . . .

 

[filfoster]

Cleaners/shirt laundry; light starch on hangers. Now, of course, the sub text of the op is: What is your site that offers these vintage style shirts at affordable prices? Marc, I am sure most posters already know but I would be interested.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

What is your site that offers these vintage style shirts at affordable prices?

What do you consider affordable, filfoster?


Here's the thread with the information you're asking about: http://www.thefedoralounge.com/show...ould-you-pay&p=1300010&viewfull=1#post1300010

 

[filfoster]

I typically buy BB plain point collar dress shirts for work when they are on sale at $109 for two. For fun things, I would admit that my price point would (and occasionally has) subject my marriage to considerable strain. I have gotten some of Magnoli's point collar shirts so I suppose that is a guide. As Oskar Schindler says in one of my favorite scenes from that movie, "Nice things cost money."

What do you consider affordable, filosopher?


Here's the thread with the information you're asking about: http://www.thefedoralounge.com/show...ould-you-pay&p=1300010&viewfull=1#post1300010

 

[Highlander]

Shirt Washing

Well, I have had no bad results washing my white and pale blue cotton shirts in warm/hot water. I use a good brand of soap, and spray the collar(and cuffs of French Cuff shirts) with one of spray and wash type cleaners. I dry them in the dryer (but a clothesline does a better job).

I mix my own starch into a spray bottle, and spray them, letting them get almost dry then iron them. They come out nice.

MY TROUBLE with Commercial DryCleaners/Launderers is that they shrink the the yoke of the shirt and then they are "Too short" in the elbows and across the back. So, I just don't use them anymore. And they really took a toll on the life/look of my shirs.

 

[cookie]

I just machine wash them at 30 ° C (sorry, don't know the fahrenheit thingy) and line dry them. No tumble dry.

This.

 

[Tomasso]

I can't believe how many gents are having their cotton shirts dry cleaned.

 

[The Good]

I just use a washing machine and dryer. On the wash, I use the "heavy" setting, and the same for the dryer. My cotton shirts when I buy them new (I have no vintage shirts) are always a little bit looser than when I wash and dry them a couple of times.

 

[jamespowers]

I can't believe how many gents are having their cotton shirts dry cleaned.

Why?

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Why?

I'm puzzled too. In fact, the shirtmaker I'm working with is very surprised by the results so far. She says that up to now, most of her customers have said that they get their cotton shirts dry cleaned.

 

[Tomasso]

Why?

1)It's unnecessary. Cotton shirts have been laundered for centuries and laundering is still the recommended process in use today. Do any of your cotton dress shirts have a Dry Clean Only tag on them?....2)The process is deleterious* to natural fibers. ...3)The chemicals used stink....4)The cost is greater than having a shirt hand washed and hand pressed.......[huh]





*That said, I do have my black and navy blue cotton shirts dry cleaned for issues of colorfastness, on advise of my shirt maker. And if I have a stain on a shirt it will be dry cleaned to treat the stain, then laundered as usual.

 

[amador]

I hand wash after a soaking in soapy water, hand wash and rinse. Then handwash spin setting in the washer and line dry. Remember that the lint trap in your drier is catching tiny bits of your clothes. Your clothes will eventually become thread bare. If the cloth is a natural fiber/synthetic fiber the weaker fiber will slowly be abrated and you will be left with the stronger fiber. Of course you will have half a shirt left.

 

[jamespowers]

1)It's unnecessary. Cotton shirts have been laundered for centuries and laundering is still the recommended process in use today. Do any of your cotton dress shirts have a Dry Clean Only tag on them?....2)The process is deleterious* to natural fibers. ...3)The chemicals used stink....4)The cost is greater than having a shirt hand washed and hand pressed.......[huh]





*That said, I do have my black and navy blue cotton shirts dry cleaned for issues of colorfastness, on advise of my shirt maker. And if I have a stain on a shirt it will be dry cleaned to treat the stain, then laundered as usual.

They have also been professionally laundered for centuries.
The process is not more damaging than washing at home. Washing is washing.
Smells fine to me.
The cost is about the same out here.

 

[jamespowers]

I'm puzzled too. In fact, the shirtmaker I'm working with is very surprised by the results so far. She says that up to now, most of her customers have said that they get their cotton shirts dry cleaned.

Makes sense to me.

 

[Tomasso]

They have also been professionally laundered for centuries.
The process is not more damaging than washing at home. Washing is washing.
Smells fine to me.
The cost is about the same out here.

Ok, it sounds like you've been taking your shirts to a dry cleaner.... to be laundered..... not dry cleaned.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Ok, it sounds like you've been taking your shirts to a dry cleaner.... to be laundered..... not dry cleaned.

I was just going to say that perhaps folks are using the term "dry cleaned" in a generic sense because so many "dry cleaners" offer dry cleaning and comercial laundering.

 

[Rathdown]

I have two "active" wardrobes, one for spring/summer, the other for fall/winter. Regardless of the season I maintain about 35/40 dress shirts in my closet, all of which are sent to the laundry. With this many shirts they see fewer trips to the laundry and seem to last longer. Typically I find that even a moderately priced shirt ($20-$30 from Land's End) will last about five years, before it is relegated to the Goodwill basket.