Curly collars

February 16, 2005 4:37 PM

When I wear polo shirts, the tips of the collars are always flipping up. I don't want them to do that. How do I stop that from happening?
posted by BuddhaInABucket to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (13 answers total)

get some spray on starch (not sizing, which is meant for synthetic fibers). After washing and drying, use the spray starch according to directions.
posted by pmbuko at 4:48 PM on February 16, 2005

I could never get that quite right and it seemed sort of wrong to starch what was essentially a casual shirt. At the behest of a friend I just stopped wearing them. Problem solved.
posted by FlamingBore at 5:05 PM on February 16, 2005

How do you store your polo shirts? I don't really have a tip here, but I think that might affect them. I store mine hanging, with the collar turned up, but I wonder if hanging/collar down or folded/collar up/down would be better...
posted by MrZero at 5:48 PM on February 16, 2005

Response by poster: I hang them, with the collar up.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 6:45 PM on February 16, 2005

Ironing them - with or without starch (as pmbuko suggests) should solve the problem. Extra work, but likely to address the problem.
posted by ericb at 7:20 PM on February 16, 2005

Wearing your collar down is for poor people
posted by ch3ch2oh at 7:45 PM on February 16, 2005

Try taping a quarter to the underside of each collar?
posted by trondant at 8:03 PM on February 16, 2005

Response by poster: ch3ch2oh- first, great screen name. second, that article made me laugh my head off. finally: you're saying that my collars keep flipping up because I'm so damn rich? I can accept that. Haha, thanks.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 8:50 PM on February 16, 2005

Yup, iron and starch always works; and any knitted fabric (Polo shirts are generally cotton knits) is best stored folded, rather than hanging. Oh, and the super-cool kids of Sydney have recently taken to wearing two polos at once, both collars up. I don't know why they do it, but they do.
posted by bunglin jones at 10:28 PM on February 16, 2005

...any knitted fabric (Polo shirts are generally cotton knits) is best stored folded, rather than hanging

Why is that? I've always struggled to decide how to decide which things get hung and which things get folded. Although since my drawers are already full of socks, boxers, accessories, and shorts, I don't think anything else is going to get folded.
posted by grouse at 1:34 AM on February 17, 2005

Best answer: grouse: Knit fabrics stretch out of shape if stored hanging. Gravity is not their friend. They get funky shoulders from the hanger, even if it's a padded fancy satin hanger. Fold 'em.
posted by Alylex at 8:21 AM on February 17, 2005

Thanks Alylex. Never knew that.
posted by grouse at 8:47 AM on February 17, 2005

I just found this eHow article on How to decide whether to hang or fold your clothes.
posted by grouse at 1:55 PM on March 13, 2005