How should I manage these garments?

February 9, 2009 1:42 PM

Is my brother right about caring for these Brooks Brothers non-iron shirts? Help!

I've recently acquired a half dozen lovely new Brooks Brothers non-irons (blue tag). I need to wear one tomorrow morning but they're kind of wrinkly from being recently purchased.

My brother swears that the best method for caring for them is to wash them cold and let them hang dry. This seems crazy to me because the nice lady at Brooks Brothers says to just wash and dry them like normal because the heat from the drier activates the resin that releases the wrinkles. BUT maaaybe she's just saying that so I go through the shirts faster by wearing them out! Thus necessitating the purchase of additional marvelous BB non-iron shirts!

1. Is my brother wrong?
2. To get one in working shape for tomorrow could I throw it in the dryer?

posted by Baby_Balrog to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (12 answers total)

Best answer: I put mine in the dryer and they look fine. Even after dozens and dozens of cycles. The best thing to do is take them out of the dryer and hang them up as soon as they finish drying.
posted by mullacc at 1:45 PM on February 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I put mine in the dryer too. Sometimes I steam them.
posted by muscat at 1:47 PM on February 9, 2009

Best answer: I love the BB non-irons. I do the same as mullacc - generally take them out of the dryer and either put them straight on or hang them up right away. And I've had several of these shirts for about 7 years now.
posted by meerkatty at 1:48 PM on February 9, 2009

Best answer: I put no-iron shirts in the dryer. An important step is to pull them out while they're still warm, hang them up, and straighten out the cuffs and collar. They don't seem to wear out any faster than other shirts.
posted by muddgirl at 1:48 PM on February 9, 2009

Best answer: Put 'em in the dryer. If you're nervous, run them on the Delicate cycle.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:57 PM on February 9, 2009

Best answer: Put them in the dryer, remove them immediately or they'll wrinkle again. Seriously, with the no-iron shirts, you don't want to leave them in more than a few minutes after tumbling stops.
posted by middleclasstool at 2:06 PM on February 9, 2009

Best answer: If they are aleady dry, throw a damp wash cloth in the dryer with them.
posted by StickyCarpet at 2:23 PM on February 9, 2009

Best answer: Consumer Reports did a study on wrinkle free shirts. All wrinkle free/non-iron shirts start losing their effectiveness after 30-45 washes. I don't recall it talking about the drying method. I think washing them is what causes the wear, not the drying.
posted by abdulf at 2:27 PM on February 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I've had bad experiences with the wrinkle free shirts also. The seams come apart after a year or two, and the collar points end up curled.

My advice is to use these only for travel, and then, only ones with button-down collars.
posted by BobbyVan at 2:54 PM on February 9, 2009

Best answer: They go into the dryer. Pull them out as soon as they're dry, and hang them up while they're still warm. If you leave them in a heap, they'll stay wrinkled. And the only way to get the wrinkles out is to drop them back into the dryer with a damp towel and reheat them.

BobbyVan -- that doesn't sound like a problem with the no-iron aspect, but rather the construction of the shirt. Badly made shirts fall apart after a year or two; well made shirts don't, regardless of whether they're no-iron or not.
posted by jlkr at 3:08 PM on February 9, 2009

Best answer: Nthing the "remove & hang them immediately after the dryer cycle"
posted by ijoyner at 3:09 PM on February 9, 2009

Response by poster: You people rock. I'll throw them in with a damp rag on delicate and hopefully we'll be good to go by morning.

Thanks everyone!!!
posted by Baby_Balrog at 5:20 PM on February 9, 2009