# First attempt to wash non-iron shirt on my own - not satisfied with results



## Avers (Feb 28, 2006)

I have several non-iron shirts and always took them to a professional place to wash. Last weekend I decided to wash them myself.

I set washing machine to cold water wash with low-speed spin and put the shirts on the hangers to dry. I didn't use iron at all. After the the shirts have dried - I am not sure I am happy with the results. I am used to shirts coming back from the cleaners crisp, but this time the shirts don't look that sharp. I can't say they are wrinkled, but they just don't have that neat look and feel.

The shirts in experiment were:

Brooks Brothers no-iron
Hart Shaffner Marx Traveler
Tommy Hillfiger iron-free

Am I expecting too much? Perhaps I should have skipped "spin" stage?

Thank you!


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## Pentheos (Jun 30, 2008)

My BB non-iron shirts call to be machine-washed in warm water, and low tumble-dry. Maybe if you followed the directions you'd be more satisfied?


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## Leighton (Nov 16, 2009)

Lol. The dry cleaners irons your shirts. You need to iron them yourself.

Theres no such thing as iron-free. Just wrinkle resistant.


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## sdjordan (Oct 29, 2008)

In general I'm dissatisfied with non-iron shirts.


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## harvey_birdman (Mar 10, 2008)

Leighton said:


> Lol. The dry cleaners irons your shirts. You need to iron them yourself.
> 
> Theres no such thing as iron-free. Just wrinkle resistant.


^ This.

And why would you buy non-iron shirts if you always had them professionally laundered anyway?


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## Avers (Feb 28, 2006)

Leighton said:


> Lol. The dry cleaners irons your shirts. You need to iron them yourself.
> 
> Theres no such thing as iron-free. Just wrinkle resistant.


I understand that if I used iron the results would be much better.

But in this case I don't see the benefit - time and effort spent on washing, hanging and ironing the shirt are not worth $1.25 per shirt that my local cleaners charge.

But if I take the shirts to a laundry place - what's the point in buying "non-iron" or "iron-free" at all?

Perhaps they will stay without the wrinkles longer, is that correct?


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## Matt S (Jun 15, 2006)

People buy non-iron shirts because they don't wrinkle much throughout the day. They are never high-end shirts. If you're looking for a well-made shirt with a nice fabric, you won't find it in a non-iron. Personally, I won't wear a shirt that doesn't wrinkle.


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## AAF-8AF (Feb 24, 2009)

Matt S said:


> People buy non-iron shirts because they don't wrinkle much throughout the day. They are never high-end shirts. If you're looking for a well-made shirt with a nice fabric, you won't find it in a non-iron. Personally, I won't wear a shirt that doesn't wrinkle.


Exactly! How else can you prove that you've really been working hard all day? A shirt without wrinkles is like an uncluttered desk -- it just raises suspicions :icon_smile_big:
.
.


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## rtaylor (Jun 27, 2007)

Avers said:


> Perhaps they will stay without the wrinkles longer, is that correct?


This has been my experience. They still looks crisp at 7pm.


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## ctt (Dec 24, 2008)

The shirt needs to be tumbled on low heat for the fabric to look decent. I usually toss my shirts in the dryer on the lowest setting for 20-30 minutes. They don't look as crisp as an ironed shirt, but after wearing a shirt for 30 minutes it's hard to tell a difference.

I was told that the heat from the dryer "activates" the chemical used to treat the shirt to give it the non-iron qualities.


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## CuffDaddy (Feb 26, 2009)

Solution: Collect all your non-iron shirts. Place them neatly but firmly in a garbage bag. Deposit said bag in nearest dumpster or other outdoor trash bin. Purchase real shirts.


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## The Louche (Jan 30, 2008)

Leighton said:


> Lol. The dry cleaners irons your shirts. You need to iron them yourself.
> 
> Theres no such thing as iron-free. Just wrinkle resistant.


Yup.



harvey_birdman said:


> ^ This.
> 
> And why would you buy non-iron shirts if you always had them professionally laundered anyway?





CuffDaddy said:


> Solution: Collect all your non-iron shirts. Place them neatly but firmly in a garbage bag. Deposit said bag in nearest dumpster or other outdoor trash bin. Purchase real shirts.


I am wearing one of the 4 or so non-irons I have left in my rotation. Its BB MTM and the fit is very nice. While I have come to view most non-iron shirts as sartorial sins and have competely stopped buying them, I don't think I will ever have a rotation completely void of them. They are very practical in some circumstances. Like travel. And its _really_ nice to have a few around in case all of your good shirts are dirty or at the cleaners b/c they are a snap to iron yourself. I can throw one in the wash at night, toss it in the dryer while I get ready in the morning, and iron it in 5 minutes after I jump out of the shower before work. Try that with must-iron shirt.


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## CuffDaddy (Feb 26, 2009)

I will concede that it takes me a full 10 minutes to iron a shirt each morning.


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## SeptemberSun (Aug 19, 2009)

CuffDaddy said:


> Solution: Collect all your non-iron shirts. Place them neatly but firmly in a garbage bag. Deposit said bag in nearest dumpster or other outdoor trash bin. Purchase real shirts.


Donating them would be better!:aportnoy:


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## CuffDaddy (Feb 26, 2009)

SeptemberSun said:


> Donating them would be better!:aportnoy:


Typical selfish attitude. Take your problem and make it someone else's.


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## At Law (Apr 15, 2008)

CuffDaddy said:


> Typical selfish attitude. Take your problem and make it someone else's.


Very clever, CuffDaddy. :icon_smile_wink:


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## Leighton (Nov 16, 2009)

Avers said:


> I understand that if I used iron the results would be much better.
> 
> But in this case I don't see the benefit - time and effort spent on washing, hanging and ironing the shirt are not worth $1.25 per shirt that my local cleaners charge.
> 
> ...


Sounds like you see the problem. Do what CuffDaddy suggests and the problem will go away. :icon_smile_big:

It is easier to iron non-iron shirts for me. Takes a little less time with the iron. They really just need touching up with the iron to look pretty decent. I can spend the time to do it myself at home. With regular cotton shirts, I just send them to the cleaners. Although, I am getting better with the spray bottle and hot iron...

People report that non-iron stays wrinkle free longer. There is also pictoral evidence that if your under the glaring lights of television, you look better in wrinkle free shirts.


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## The Louche (Jan 30, 2008)

CuffDaddy said:


> I will concede that it takes me a full 10 minutes to iron a shirt each morning.





Leighton said:


> Sounds like you see the problem. Do what CuffDaddy suggests and the problem will go away. :icon_smile_big:
> 
> It is easier to iron non-iron shirts for me. Takes a little less time with the iron. They really just need touching up with the iron to look pretty decent. I can spend the time to do it myself at home. With regular cotton shirts, I just send them to the cleaners. Although, I am getting better with the spray bottle and hot iron...
> 
> People report that non-iron stays wrinkle free longer. There is also pictoral evidence that if your under the glaring lights of television, you look better in wrinkle free shirts.


It takes me about 3 minutes to touch up a non-iron and 20+ to do a "real" cotton shirt. When time is of the essence, the non-iron is a no-brainer. I'm all about autheticity, but sometimes we need to check our obsessive compulsion about clothes at the door.


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## CuffDaddy (Feb 26, 2009)

Why in the world does it take 20+ minutes to iron a shirt? It's less than a dozen steps, none of which should take more than a minute, and many of which are 30-second jobs: 

1) Iron the collar flat
2) Iron right sleeve 
3) Iront right cuff
4) Iron left sleeve
5) Iron left cuff
6) Iron left front
7) Iron left shoulder
8) Iron left rear
9) Iron right rear
10) Iron right shoulder
11) Iron right front

The secret is to create flat planes of fabric over which the iron can be quickly run, minimize the number of times that you have to move the shirt to create those flat planes, spray liberally (damp fabric releases wrinkles almost instantly), and use a hot, heavy iron. Done properly, you should never have to touch the same spot of fabric more than once with the iron, and, if it was hung dry and the sleeves were not allowed to dry in a rope-like twist, the backside of each sleeve need not be touched at all.


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## Hanzo (Sep 9, 2009)

I've read this post and several others complaining of non-iron shirts needing ironing. 

Either my drier (the cheapest one I was able to find) was sprinkled with pixie dust before it left the factory, or you're all doing it wrong.

Yes, after washing, they go in the drier. Low heat, tumble dry, pull them out when they're dry, put them on a hanger. Most of my non-iron shirts, done like this could be placed next to the ones that came from the cleaners (without starch) and you couldn't tell the difference. If you pull it out of the washer and put it (still damp) on a hanger, of course it will wrinkle, but I seriously doubt that is what the instructions tell you to do.


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## DownByTheRiverSide (Oct 25, 2009)

I think much of the confusion arises because the two types of shirts need exactly the opposite approach to drying. 

A must-iron shirt should be dried damp on the hanger and later spray dampened and ironed, or steam ironed. I think it is best never to dry them at all on any setting. In contrast, the non-iron shirt must be dried on low heat to release (most of) the wrinkles. Naturally, they must be removed and hung up immediately. I do a sort of do a quick 'iron' with my hand while it is still warm, just as I hang it up to further smooth it out.

I dont think most people would say that a non-iron shirt will ever be quite as nice-looking as a must-iron shirt; I know I wouldnt. But even I, as much as I like to obsess over rules, recognize that there is a place for the occasional non-iron shirt, such as has been related above. I always have about two of them for those certain circumstances where I think they are applicable. And even those I almost always touch-up with an iron for 2-3 minutes (just a polite nod towards my obsession). 

I think that people would be much happier with the shirts if they were to stop calling them non-iron, and call them 'quick-iron' or, as someone else said, perhaps 'wrinkle-resistant', as that is much closer to what they truly are than non-iron.


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## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

Non-irons are useful as travel or "oh crap I forgot to iron" shirts. Past that, I prefer regular cotton. They breath better too.


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## Cruiser (Jul 21, 2006)

All of my dress shirts are non-iron, mostly from Lands End; however, I do touch them up with an iron. It takes less than a minute per shirt and the shirts not only look great when I put them on, but they still look great several hours later. I wash them in warm water and dry them on low heat.

Cruiser


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## Sean1982 (Sep 7, 2009)

$1.25 to wash and iron a shirt! Wow, in Central London we're talking £3 per shirt, or more. It would bankrupt me!

As for non iron shirts, in my pre sartorial days I did have one, and it was so ugly and still needed ironing.

As I always wear a waistcoat and keep my jacket on, I only need to iron a small part of the shirt (collar, top of the chest, cuffs)! Cheeky or what.


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## PJC in NoVa (Jan 23, 2005)

I don't believe that true "noniron" shirts really exist.

Therefore I send all my shirts, n.i. and must-iron alike, to the cleaners for professional laundering, (light) starching, and pressing.

What I do find is that the n.i.'s will resist wrinkling better, which can be an especial boon on humid summer days.


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## Leighton (Nov 16, 2009)

Hanzo said:


> I've read this post and several others complaining of non-iron shirts needing ironing.
> 
> Either my drier (the cheapest one I was able to find) was sprinkled with pixie dust before it left the factory, or you're all doing it wrong.
> 
> Yes, after washing, they go in the drier. Low heat, tumble dry, pull them out when they're dry, put them on a hanger. Most of my non-iron shirts, done like this could be placed next to the ones that came from the cleaners (without starch) and you couldn't tell the difference. If you pull it out of the washer and put it (still damp) on a hanger, of course it will wrinkle, but I seriously doubt that is what the instructions tell you to do.


Are they cotton? My poly shirts have that property, but they are poly and they are where they belong. (not in my closet)

But yes, if you throw it in the dryer on low, my wrinkle resistant shirts come out looking pretty fresh, but I still iron them to get the final crispness in.


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## Hanzo (Sep 9, 2009)

Leighton said:


> Are they cotton? My poly shirts have that property, but they are poly and they are where they belong. (not in my closet)
> 
> But yes, if you throw it in the dryer on low, my wrinkle resistant shirts come out looking pretty fresh, but I still iron them to get the final crispness in.


Yes, they are cotton.


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## The Louche (Jan 30, 2008)

CuffDaddy said:


> Why in the world does it take 20+ minutes to iron a shirt? It's less than a dozen steps, none of which should take more than a minute, and many of which are 30-second jobs:
> 
> 1) Iron the collar flat
> 2) Iron right sleeve
> ...


It takes me 20+ minutes b/c I am very fastidious (sp?) about it when I do it myself. Certain things - like the creases on the sleeves - must be done in a super exacting manner. I'm just a bit OCD.


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## CuffDaddy (Feb 26, 2009)

The Louche said:


> It takes me 20+ minutes b/c I am very fastidious (sp?) about it when I do it myself. Certain things - like the creases on the sleeves - must be done in a super exacting manner. I'm just a bit OCD.


You know, thinking about this conversation caused me to time myself this morning as I ironed my shirt. 6 minutes, 35 seconds. All cotton, hung to dry so there were no egregious creases. Button cuffs, which I find take longer to iron than double cuffs. The sleeves are the most time consuming, and they took just under a minute each (not counting cuffs).

I fancy myself to be pretty meticulous with my ironing myself. I quit using cleaners long ago because I was disgusted by their lousy iron work/pressing. My wife and other members of my family are forbidden to iron any of my shirts. I'm not doing a slapdash job. (Speaking of OCD, a psychiatrist once told me that I didn't exactly have OCD, but definitely had compulsive tendencies. When I saw him again several years later and began telling him a story with lots of details and asides, he remarked "still as compulsive as ever.")

Do you use a sleeveboard? Iron the inside of the shirt first then the outside? I just cannot comprehend what would tripple the amount of time, unless I had tied the shirt into several tight knots and let it dry that way.


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## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

I need a sleeve board still...


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## CuffDaddy (Feb 26, 2009)

Jovan said:


> I need a sleeve board still...


Only if you iron your jackets. Total waste of time for shirts, IMO.


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## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

I generally don't trust any clothing to cleaners so... yes. How is it a waste of time for shirts?


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## CuffDaddy (Feb 26, 2009)

Shirt material is thin, particularly dress shirt material. You just lay the sleeve flat on the regular ironing board, hand smooth/stretch out any folds, and iron it flat. If the shirt is of such heavy material that other side of the sleeve still has some surface wrinkles, flip it over and iron that side. If you dislike a crease on your sleeve, don't iron the very edges of the sleeve; rotate the sleeve 30-90° (so that the line that would be a crease is now in/near the middle of the sleeve area ) and iron that portion. Done, and none of it needed a sleeveboard. Fumbling with a sleeveboard adds a huge amount of time to no real benefit that I can discern. It _reduces_ the amount of area that can be ironed without repositioning the shirt. Minimizing the number of shirt re-positionings is the key to a quick press that doesn't add wrinkles back in to already pressed areas.

For things like jackets, though, where creases must be avoided at all costs, where the fabric is thick enough to take a bit of a shape, and where there are multiple layers that prevent steam from reaching the "bottom" of a sleeve being ironed, they're great. They're not bad inventions, just counter-productive for use in shirt ironing, IMO.


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## Musick (Oct 5, 2009)

ctt said:


> I was told that the heat from the dryer "activates" the chemical used to treat the shirt to give it the non-iron qualities.


Cant comment w/ absolute certainity, but there may be some truth to that.

I tried simply washing my cotton/poly blend (ducks incoming fire) :icon_smile_big: shirts and hanging them to dry, but got better results by drying them w/ some other items for 10 min. or so on Perm. Press. Not to the point they were dry, but near to dry while being only slightly....damp is not the right word...semi-moist maybe? 

Not perfect, but better than from the washer to the hanger type of drying.


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## Musick (Oct 5, 2009)

The Louche said:


> It takes me 20+ minutes b/c I am very fastidious (sp?) about it when I do it myself...


Im not fastidious, just an ironing dunce. Takes me 10+ min. per, and they still look just OK.

I need to practice more. MUCH more. :icon_smile_big:


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## Leighton (Nov 16, 2009)

The heat from the dryer probably releases the wrinkles whereas hanging the shirt directly on a hander will just "set" the wrinkles from the washing machine.

Same principle as using an iron and water to make the shirt flat.

Thats my amateur take on it anyway.


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## The Louche (Jan 30, 2008)

CuffDaddy said:


> You know, thinking about this conversation caused me to time myself this morning as I ironed my shirt. 6 minutes, 35 seconds. All cotton, hung to dry so there were no egregious creases. Button cuffs, which I find take longer to iron than double cuffs. The sleeves are the most time consuming, and they took just under a minute each (not counting cuffs).
> 
> I fancy myself to be pretty meticulous with my ironing myself. I quit using cleaners long ago because I was disgusted by their lousy iron work/pressing. My wife and other members of my family are forbidden to iron any of my shirts. I'm not doing a slapdash job. (Speaking of OCD, a psychiatrist once told me that I didn't exactly have OCD, but definitely had compulsive tendencies. When I saw him again several years later and began telling him a story with lots of details and asides, he remarked "still as compulsive as ever.")
> 
> Do you use a sleeveboard? Iron the inside of the shirt first then the outside? I just cannot comprehend what would tripple the amount of time, unless I had tied the shirt into several tight knots and let it dry that way.


No sleeve board. I saw Kabazz remoark here once that it takes 27 minutes to do properly.


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## CuffDaddy (Feb 26, 2009)

I just don't understand where that time could be spent. Do you have more steps than I do? I'm genuinely curious as to what is going on.


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## redarmy3 (Nov 27, 2009)

Somewhat out of the blue but besides finding a brand that fits better, is there a point to buying more expensive noniron shirts? Looking at them they all seem to be a cotton/poly blend. So is there a point to buying a nicer one for $60 when you can get some on clearance for $20?


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## Cruiser (Jul 21, 2006)

redarmy3 said:


> is there a point to buying more expensive noniron shirts? Looking at them they all seem to be a cotton/poly blend.


Almost all of my dress shirts are non-iron and none of them are cotton/poly blends. They are all 100 percent cotton. Most are from Lands End, but I also have a few from Eagle, Izod, and Hillfiger. These are in patterns that LE doesn't offer, otherwise I would have all LE dress shirts.

I know that some complain about the non-iron treatment that is applied to these cotton shirts, but to me any downside that there might be (and I find it to be negligible) is more than compensated for by the ease of care and good looks of the shirts while wearing them. I think the Lands End shirts are especially nice for the price. I pay anywhere from $29 to $46 for LE non-iron shirts.

Cruiser


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## The Louche (Jan 30, 2008)

redarmy3 said:


> Somewhat out of the blue but besides finding a brand that fits better, *is there a point to buying more expensive noniron shirts*? Looking at them they all seem to be a cotton/poly blend. So is there a point to buying a nicer one for $60 when you can get some on clearance for $20?


Yes. Brooks Brothers has non-iron "luxury" shirts that are MUCH nicer than the regular non-iron shirts. Much higher quality, Eygptian cotton. You almost can't tell they are non-iron to touch them, which can't be said of the regular non-irons. You can feel the fermaldahyde on those.


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## The Louche (Jan 30, 2008)

CuffDaddy said:


> I just don't understand where that time could be spent. Do you have more steps than I do? I'm genuinely curious as to what is going on.


Beat me. 20 minutes may be an exageration, but I'm positive it is no where near 6 minutes. Maybe 15-18. I think one of the things that makes the process time consuming is lining up the sleeve. I make sure that the crease is EXACTLY opposite the sleeve seam. This takes time to line-up b/c its one of those things wherein adjustments to the top will usually cause the bottom to shift and vis-versa, causing you to go back to square one.


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## Avers (Feb 28, 2006)

redarmy3 said:


> Somewhat out of the blue but besides finding a brand that fits better, is there a point to buying more expensive noniron shirts? Looking at them they all seem to be a cotton/poly blend. So is there a point to buying a nicer one for $60 when you can get some on clearance for $20?


All my non-iron shirts are 100% cotton.

I don't believe I paid any premium for "non-iron" feature, they are in the same price range as my regular shirts.


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## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

My shirts take me about 20 minutes. I never use starch, sizing, or anything else.


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## a tailor (May 16, 2005)

Sean1982 said:


> $1.25 to wash and iron a shirt! Wow, in Central London we're talking £3 per shirt, or more. It would bankrupt me!
> 
> As for non iron shirts, in my pre sartorial days I did have one, and it was so ugly and still needed ironing.
> 
> As I always wear a waistcoat and keep my jacket on, I only need to iron a small part of the shirt (collar, top of the chest, cuffs)! Cheeky or what.


the reason its cheaper in the states is that cleaners use the shirts as a loss leader.
to attract customers.


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