- Thread starter
- #101
Do you guys only get iron shirts for your casual shirts as well? You must iron around ten shirts a week then.
Why buy shirts that must be ironed?
- Thread starter mretzloff
- Start date
I don't wear sport shirts. Polos and T-shirts for me.
Iron, what's that? When you say iron, you really mean send to the dry cleaners, right?
Ouch!
A big fat PLUS ONE!!!
Are you saying his wife is fat
Now I'm not saying she's fat, but her high school yearbook picture was an aerial photograph...
That's like saying when you say shaving you mean use an electric. I enjoy ironing and I do a better job than most cleaners will do.
So fat astronauts can see her from space! So fat that when her beeper goes off, people think she is backing up. (Dated, I know, but I always liked that one. The visual is evocative!) Etc, etc.
What I was really writing about, and I think I mentioned this early, sort of, is that I have been looking more closely at my shirts lately. I conclude a couple of things:
One, except for the starch and the sharp creases from the cleaners, and the wrinkles if they have been worn, as to the all cotton shirts, I do not think I can tell the difference between a non iron shirt shirt and an all cotton shirt even looking pretty close up. That is, if one touched up the non iron, which one woudl hae to do, and did not starch the all cotton, I do not think I could consistenly guess which was whcih. (The Brooks Brothers and other better known makers ones I have, anyway, do not seem to be in an oxford cloth, so that diffference has to be taken into account. The weave of the non iron may actually be slightly different than a standard broad cloth, too, but not enough for me to consistently pick up.)
Two, the Costco non iron shirts are brilliantly white, which is nice. Too bad their non iron characteristics are not better. The Brooks Brothers non iron shirts in white do seem a little off white. Some of their all cotton ones that I have, and it could just be age, do not seem brilliantly white either. But from the ones I have none of the non iron white BB shirts are asl brilliantly white as any of the Costco ones nor as brillantly white as some of the all cotton BB ones.
Overall, I think these all cotton non iron shirts are really going to hurt the shirt laundry business, if they have not already. They are good enough looking for most people's tastes, and just too inexpensive to launder at home and too convenient. I wonder if this will make having a shirt laundered less or more expensive?
What I was really writing about, and I think I mentioned this early, sort of, is that I have been looking more closely at my shirts lately. I conclude a couple of things:
One, except for the starch and the sharp creases from the cleaners, and the wrinkles if they have been worn, as to the all cotton shirts, I do not think I can tell the difference between a non iron shirt shirt and an all cotton shirt even looking pretty close up. That is, if one touched up the non iron, which one woudl hae to do, and did not starch the all cotton, I do not think I could consistenly guess which was whcih. (The Brooks Brothers and other better known makers ones I have, anyway, do not seem to be in an oxford cloth, so that diffference has to be taken into account. The weave of the non iron may actually be slightly different than a standard broad cloth, too, but not enough for me to consistently pick up.)
Two, the Costco non iron shirts are brilliantly white, which is nice. Too bad their non iron characteristics are not better. The Brooks Brothers non iron shirts in white do seem a little off white. Some of their all cotton ones that I have, and it could just be age, do not seem brilliantly white either. But from the ones I have none of the non iron white BB shirts are asl brilliantly white as any of the Costco ones nor as brillantly white as some of the all cotton BB ones.
Overall, I think these all cotton non iron shirts are really going to hurt the shirt laundry business, if they have not already. They are good enough looking for most people's tastes, and just too inexpensive to launder at home and too convenient. I wonder if this will make having a shirt laundered less or more expensive?
As far as appearances, You are correct. Most people won't notice the difference unless close. For me, the difference is me. I like the feel better of the starched shirts.
Thems fighting words! Sewing? Darning?
Reality is, I don't have the time or the ability. Or the iron for that matter.
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<Most people won't notice the difference unless close.>
Not to quibble, and no dis intended, but you maybe changing the nuance of what I said, in a way that might be important in the context of this particular thread. <grin> <I am really not giving you a hard time, I hope!>
What I said was "I do not think I can tell the difference between a non iron shirt shirt and an all cotton shirt even looking pretty close up." I do not mean "most people will not notice." I do not mean that most people will not notice "unless up close." I mean that I, who at this point has made something of a study of this, actively looking, and pretty darn close, cannot tell the difference. Frankly I am saying not only that most people are not going to "notice" a difference, I do not think that most people if they were actively looking for differences would be able to see them, even up close.
Now I will grant you that I did put conditions on what I said. I was assuming no starch in the comparison. I think I could spot a starched collar and I have not tried it, but I truly doubt that a home washed and starched non iron shirt is really going to look much like an all cotton shirt starched and ironed by a professional laundry or by an expert like rickboone1. Moreover, I assumed freshly put on shirts. I do not think that at the end of the day an all cotton shirt is going to look much like a non iron shirt. The all cotton shirt is going to have distinctive wrinkles and the non iron shirt is going to look preternaturally unwrinkled.
And lest someone get me wrong, I much prefer the look of a starched shirt over a non starched shirt, or at least a starched collar and cuffs over non starched. And I am serious that I am going look back into detachable collars and the reason for that is to get that starched to an extreme collar look!
And also lest someone get where I am coming from wrong, I am fascinated by what rickboone1 has been talking about. I doubt that I would start ironing my own shirts just to get what I can get when I take my shirts down to my local outfit for a good scorching and button busting.
But I highly suspect that if could do as well as they do, I could do better, and that is an intriguing prospect! And I definitely get the analogy of doing one's own ironing and shaving with a straight razor.
For that matter, I assume that if rickboone1 can iron a shirt, he sure as heck can iron a suit, and I would dearly love to have my suits perfectly ironed more often than they are!
- Thread starter
- #117
Thems fighting words! Sewing? Darning?
Reality is, I don't have the time or the ability. Or the iron for that matter.
That is my problem though. If you send your shirts to the cleaners, that $1 to $3 it costs per shirt adds up really quickly.
I guess I don't understand. I wasn't really meaning anything by that. I thought I was agreeing with you to an extent. I meant there will always be somebody who notices things like that, but I am not one of them. However, I just prefer the feel of the cotton one, myself. It was just an opinion. Sorry, if I accidentally gave the wrong impression.
Personally I can spot a shirt that's been ironed a mile away.
Suits are ironable, but tricky. most pants are so 'slick' they're harder to get the initial crease in. I like these to go to the cleaner's heavy duty press then the maintenance afterward is simpler. Jackets, sportscoats..get a good steamer.
Suits are ironable, but tricky. most pants are so 'slick' they're harder to get the initial crease in. I like these to go to the cleaner's heavy duty press then the maintenance afterward is simpler. Jackets, sportscoats..get a good steamer.
Nah. You have nothing whatever to apologize for. I probably should be apologizing to you--so I do apologize--because you and I really are pretty much on the same page, and I was exaggerating any differences between what I said and you said, more or less for effect! You did not give any wrong impression. (For that matter, if you strongly disagreed with me, which you gave no impression of, you would still have nothing to apologize for! Discussions around here would not be as interesting if we just shook hands around the table every time!)
<there will always be somebody who notices things like that, but I am not one of them>
Frankly, I probably am someone that "notices things like that"--"always notices" would be an exaggeration--I do not think I am quite that uptight or obsessed or concerned with what other folks are wearing (for any other purpose than what I think will look good on me). I probably prefer all cotton, for the starch, the feel, and the appearance, for all purposes other than a business trip, and maybe even there if I am taking the time to properly pack and to touch up my clothes at the hotel. I am just amazed at how far non iron has advanced apparently just within the past couple of years!
Responding to rickboone1:
<Suits are ironable, but tricky. most pants are so 'slick' they're harder to get the initial crease in. I like these to go to the cleaner's heavy duty press then the maintenance afterward is simpler. Jackets, sportscoats..get a good steamer. >
Wow! I did not expect that response. I must be out of it, as shirts struck me as so much harder to iron than touching up a suit, which I will do from time to time, I am just not very good at it.
I do have a "good steamer." I really could not do with it, or my dry cleaning bills would be stupendous. For that matter, excessive dry cleaning really is not good for ones good wool clothing. I find the steamer does a pretty good job, but I have assumed that skillful use of a hand iron could really bring a suit up to fresh from the cleaners snuff!
Actually, I think I mentioned early in this thread, which seems like a couple of years ago now, our long-time beloved housekeeper, babby sitter, etc., who was good with an iron, but from what I could tell could never get a freshly laundered all cotton shirt into shape, could and did from time to time-- I will it had beem more frequent!--make my suits look as good or better than they look fresh from the cleaners!
