- Messages
- 54,308
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.
-
The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.
POLL: HOW Do You WASH Your DRESS SHIRTS?
- Thread starter Marc Chevalier
- Start date
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.
Featured products
-
John Lofgren Monkey Boots Shinki Horsebuttt - $1,136 The classic monkey boot silhouette in an incredibly rich Shinki russet horse leather. -
Grant Stone Diesel Boot Dark Olive Chromexcel - $395 Goodyear welted, Horween Chromexcel, classic good looks. -
Schott 568 Vandals Jacket - $1,250 The classic Perfecto motorcycle jacket, in a very special limited-edition Schott double rider style.
samtemporary
One of the Regulars
- Messages
- 176
- Location
- Fort Lauderdale, FL
Same here. I dry clean all my dress clothes and military uniforms without any problems. I have for years.
Guttersnipe
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,942
- Location
- San Francisco, CA
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
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,330
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.
Last edited:
Marc Chevalier
Gone Home
- Messages
- 18,192
- Location
- Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California
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
Last edited:
filfoster
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,330
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."
Highlander
A-List Customer
- Messages
- 473
- Location
- Missouri
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.
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'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 5,927
- Location
- Sydney Australia
This.
The Good
Call Me a Cab
- Messages
- 2,361
- Location
- California, USA
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.
- Messages
- 54,308
Why?
Marc Chevalier
Gone Home
- Messages
- 18,192
- Location
- Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California
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.
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
A-List Customer
- Messages
- 372
- Location
- Locum Tenens
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.
- Messages
- 54,308
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.
- Messages
- 54,308
Makes sense to me.
Ok, it sounds like you've been taking your shirts to a dry cleaner.... to be laundered..... not dry cleaned.
Guttersnipe
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,942
- Location
- San Francisco, CA
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.
Last edited:
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.
Similar threads
