# Starched Khakis Poll



## mhj (Oct 27, 2010)

For those you iron and crease your khakis in the first place, do you also starch them? The debate for me isn't whether to iron or not, they look too schlumpy* for me wear to work not ironed.

I'm thinking that the crease will last and will look neat longer if starched.

*Merriam-Webster.com
Definition of _SCHLUMP_ _slang_
*:* schlub 
- *schlumpy* \ˈshləm-pē\ _adjective_ 
*Origin of SCHLUMP*

Yiddish _shlump_ sloppy or dowdy person
First Known Use: 1948


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## Bandit44 (Oct 1, 2010)

I apply light starch on the inside leg, but nowhere else.


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## maximar (Jan 11, 2010)

For me, starched khakis looked very polished, but at the end of the day, they look like rumpled paper. There is a non-starch spray called "magic sizing". It works well with me. Apply a light mist just to get a slight crisp especially on the creases.


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## godan (Feb 10, 2010)

My khakis are always pressed, whether creased or ironed flat, but never starched. For a pure cotton product, Bills M3's hold a crease well and seem not to wrinkle badly.


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## Trad-ish (Feb 19, 2011)

Starched if I'm wearing a pair to work. Yeah, they'll be wrinkled at the end of the day but I kind of figure it's like wearing linen in that you know it's just the nature of the beast. On the weekend, pressed with no starch.


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## paper clip (May 15, 2006)

I am not a fan of starch for cotton pants. When I send my Bills khakis to the cleaners (as opposed to home launder and hang dry) I ask for "wet press". No starch, but it keeps a nice crease for the 1st day anyway.


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## rl1856 (Jun 7, 2005)

I have mine laundered, starched and pressed. I ask for heavy starch so that I have a crease that is sharp enough to use as a weapon.

I find that heavy starch and a stiff crease hold up well over multiple wearings. I do agree that at the end of the day they can look rumpled. However, I hang the trousers from the cuff which allows weight of the pant to naturally smooth out wrinkles.

It helps to start with a heavy weight cotton.

Best,

Ross


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## Orgetorix (May 20, 2005)

There hasn't been a drop of starch near my clothing in four or five years. I haven't looked back.


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## dorji (Feb 18, 2010)

^^Right. As my pressing ability improved, starch ceased to be necessary.

I have never starched khakis, but used to starch my shirts. My Bills keep a nice crease for 3+ days from nothing more than a home iron and water mist.


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## Cowtown (Aug 10, 2006)

No starch in my khakis or shirts.


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## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

Never did like starch on shirts and I expect I'll never like it on khakis either. Tried it once on a shirt and didn't like the cardboard-like feel.


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## Naval Gent (May 12, 2007)

Starched is the only way to go. Back in my college days there was actually a great deal of overt peer pressure about this. A knife edge at the cuffs was the standard. 

I used to get mine done at a commercial laundry, but when the price went up to something like eight bucks a pair, I threw in the towel and started doing them at home. The result is far inferior. A hand iron just can't do as good a job as a buck press. 

Scott


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## dcjacobson (Jun 25, 2007)

My "khaki" type pants are "no-iron," so no starch needed.

My poplin pants I iron AND starch. They just look nicer longer that way.

P.S. Medium starch on all my shirts. For 30 years now, and as someone above said, "I haven't looked back."

Good luck,
Don


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

SWMBO tells me that my khakis get starched! I don't think I knew that?


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## Trip English (Dec 22, 2008)

No chemicals unless they're emitted directly from my person.


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## Trad-ish (Feb 19, 2011)

Naval Gent said:


> Starched is the only way to go. Back in my college days there was actually a great deal of overt peer pressure about this. A knife edge at the cuffs was the standard.
> 
> I used to get mine done at a commercial laundry, but when the price went up to something like eight bucks a pair, I threw in the towel and started doing them at home. The result is far inferior. A hand iron just can't do as good a job as a buck press.
> 
> Scott


I hear you. Back in college, we found regular heavy starch wasn't good enough. We started buying commercial starch (that you're supposed to mix with water) and threw that into spray bottles. Much better creases!


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## Oldsarge (Feb 20, 2011)

When the Army forbade starching BDU's I was bang along side. Starch is an abomination.


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## andy b. (Mar 18, 2010)

The only starch in my life comes from potatoes. I allow my pants to be as free and wild as nature wishes them to be. 

andy b.


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## Bernie Zack (Feb 10, 2010)

Light startch on shirts, sometimes.
No starch on Khakis. Ever.


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## Penang Lawyer (May 27, 2008)

When Uncle Sam paid my salary they were starched. Now the non iron are the rule.


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## Keydet (Feb 21, 2011)

When I was in college, our summer uniform consisted of a pair of white pants made out of duck material. They came back from the laundry heavily, heavily starched and pressed paper thin, which required one to, in VMI lingo, "rape" one's ducks by pulling and forcing them apart in order to get them on. After that, they were good for maybe a half day of wear before they looked fairly awful. 

I've retained an affinity for several things from my toy soldier days: nicely shined shoes, military tucked shirts, etc., but starched pants is not one.


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## Mississippi Mud (Oct 15, 2009)

Trip English said:


> No chemicals unless they're emitted directly from my person.


Second. I even avoid the iron as much as possible.


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## WouldaShoulda (Aug 5, 2009)

Ironing is woman's work!!


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## godan (Feb 10, 2010)

Keydet said:


> When I was in college, our summer uniform consisted of a pair of white pants made out of duck material. They came back from the laundry heavily, heavily starched and pressed paper thin, which required one to, in VMI lingo, "rape" one's ducks by pulling and forcing them apart in order to get them on. After that, they were good for maybe a half day of wear before they looked fairly awful.
> 
> I've retained an affinity for several things from my toy soldier days: nicely shined shoes, military tucked shirts, etc., but starched pants is not one.


Did you put them on while standing on the seat of a chair, so they did not have to bend at the knees and thus be not wrinkled for morning formation?


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## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

WouldaShoulda said:


> Ironing is woman's work!!


Real men know how to iron their own clothes.


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## dukekook (Sep 5, 2008)

Jovan said:


> Real men know how to iron their own clothes.


A Mother's Day +1.


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

Jovan said:


> Real men know how to iron their own clothes.





dukekook said:


> A Mother's Day +1.


No, no no! A real man will, with a warm and caring smile on his lips, look lovingly at his little woman and say, "Oh Dear, could you freshen these up, just a bit?" LOL.


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## Saltydog (Nov 3, 2007)

eagle2250 said:


> No, no no! A real man will, with a warm and caring smile on his lips, look lovingly at his little woman and say, "Oh Dear, could you freshen these up, just a bit?" LOL.


+1 eagle...I'm with you.


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## Keydet (Feb 21, 2011)

godan said:


> Did you put them on while standing on the seat of a chair, so they did not have to bend at the knees and thus be not wrinkled for morning formation?


Hmmm...never saw anyone do that but it would have been a good idea. Sometimes, for just general wear to class, etc., if you needed to stretch them another day you might put them very carefully on your "rack" (wooden cot-like structure) underneath your "hay" (roll-up mattress) for an overnight pressing.


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## Drew Bernard (Feb 19, 2009)

Naval Gent said:


> Starched is the only way to go.


+1

I don't hang chinos in my closet, I stand them up in the corner.


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## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

If you can stand up your trousers or shirts on end, how can you wear them? It has all the appeal to me of wearing cardboard.


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## Drew Bernard (Feb 19, 2009)

Jovan said:


> If you can stand up your trousers or shirts on end, how can you wear them? It has all the appeal to me of wearing cardboard.


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## Trip English (Dec 22, 2008)

I don't think it's hyperbole. I worked as a rude waiter when I was younger and we had to wear starched shirts and it ruined the fabric and felt gross. This was before I even really cared about clothing.


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## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

I got it. All I'm saying is that starch is gross. Though, I have actually seen a shirt that can stand up on its own on the Fedora Lounge. Literally.


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## Saltydog (Nov 3, 2007)

Jovan said:


> I got it. All I'm saying is that starch is gross. Though, I have actually seen a shirt that can stand up on its own on the Fedora Lounge. Literally.


Starch is gross? Gross??? Jovan...you've just gut-shot me and left me lying in the middle of nowhere to die a miserable and lingerlng death. Knowing my affection for the substance...and hyperbole.


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## GentlemanGeorge (Dec 30, 2009)

Jovan said:


> Real men know how to iron their own clothes.


Yes, of course, to instruct their women in the proper technique and procedure. Good clarification.


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## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

Saltydog said:


> Starch is gross? Gross??? Jovan...you've just gut-shot me and left me lying in the middle of nowhere to die a miserable and lingerlng death. Knowing my affection for the substance...and hyperbole.


That's what you get for even thinking of having starch in the same room as a Mercer shirt!


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