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Pros and cons of dry cleaning dress shirts

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I usually send my dress shirts to dry cleaners for their launder shirt services. When I ask local dry cleaners to try to remove stains on my shirts, a few of them recommend that my dress shirts be dry cleaned rather than laundered. I am curious to know the pros and cons of getting dress shirts dry cleaned.
Thank you.
 
#2 ·
I'm speaking from limited experience, but aside from the dryness of the cleaning (chemicals instead of standard washing), I believe the cost is significantly more. When I was first starting to wear dress shirts to work on a regular basis I asked this same question of the dry cleaner and his response was mostly to do with it being too expensive and not needed. I already pay $2.25. a shirt! I'd avoid it just to save money!
 
#3 ·
In another thread it was brought out that one reason for not wearing a non-iron cotton shirt was the toxicity of the chemicals used to render the cloth wrinkle free. If you adhere to this line of thinking you probably don't want to dry clean your shirts since about 95 percent of all dry cleaners use the toxic chemical perchloroethylene as the cleaning agent. The health concerns associated with long term exposure to this chemical are well known.

My Lands End non-iron shirts clearly say on the label "Do Not Dry Clean." Of course the label also says to not starch or use fabric softener. I suppose all of this has something to do with the non-iron treatment of the shirt; however, I wouldn't dry clean them anyway and I've never seen any need to use either starch or fabric softener on them. They look great right out of the dryer with just a minor touch up with the iron.

Cruiser
 
#4 ·
When I worked at a certain southern department store, I could not believe the sheer number of men who dry cleaned everything. Aside from being hard on the clothing, there were the chemical issues Cruiser mentioned above.

This is exactly why I stopped buying Purple Label from PRL - the expense of dry cleaning the stuff and the worry about what was going to happen to my shorts, shirt, etc. Although to be fair, they were the best looking shorts I've ever seen.

Yes to organic fabrics, no to dry cleaning. I try to space out suit cleanings as much as possible as well.
 
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#8 ·
Pros: Ease for you (but the same "ease" as having them laundered)

Cons: chemicals, cost, time, broken buttons, pins through cloth, over-pressed shirts, smell (some dry cleaners don't change their cleaning fluids often enough hence the dry cleaning "smell"), ruined shirts, lost shirts, you forget to pick up the shirts and they get donated, etc.

I always wash my own shirts and if they need special attention (e.g. ring-around-the-collar) then I follow the Kabbaz method with a toothbrush and Colgate's Octagon soap - never failed to remove a stain yet!)

Sounds like your laundry person is either: (1) just being lazy about removing the stains themselves; (2) calculating the cost of the extra time to remove stains and would rather put the onus/cost on you; (3) not experienced enough to know how to remove stains properly.
 
#9 ·
If your dry cleaner is suggesting dry cleaning over regular laundering because they are unable to get the stains out, I would suggest finding a better dry cleaner. Not all dry cleaners are the same, and some are better than others.

As for the dry cleaning itself, the one I go to does not use perc, but rather uses some sort of "green power" stuff, of which I have no idea about. They are a bit more expensive though, $2.80 for a shirt compared to the $1.80 at the end of my block laundered and not dry cleaned. They have great service though, work Saturday's and some locations Sundays, almost always next day service with same day service for $1 more on each item, and offer tons of copouns like $10 off $35 or $20 off $70 for dry cleaning (not laundering). What am I trying to tell you? There are good dry cleaners out there, but you'll have to look around and get to know the people. I probably tried 3-4 before I found this one, and it is about a 10-15 minute drive away. I probably pass 20 dry cleaners on the way, but it is definately worth it.
 
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#11 ·
Taken Aback said:
I chuckle a little at that, since I have seen constantly replenished racks of dry cleaner leavings at dollar stores.
Click to expand...
I, too, chuckle every time I pick up a classic and/or expensive shirt at a thrift store that has been donated by a dry cleaner. I've purchased some gorgeous shirts that way - just this past week I found a recent Gitman Bros ocbd and very thick USA-made Gant ocbd (with the third collar button in the back). Both of them were white and in perfect condition.
 
#13 ·
Pro: You can be lazy and not wash them yourself

Cons: Cost, chemicals, and 100% probability that your clothing will shrink, warp, and all buttons will eventually be broken. Wait, why are we paying people to destroy our shirts?
 
#16 ·
I don't understand dry cleaning a shirt. Expensive, time-intensive, and bad for the shirt. I wash my clothes every two weeks, cold water wash, and hang dry in my room with the fan going. As necessary, I use Oxyclean on the collars and cuffs before washing. All in all it's about a half hour or hour out of my morning, and I get immense satisfaction from knowing that I am taking great care of my clothes. I'd imagine that those with heftier wardrobes could even go three or four weeks between loads.
 
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#17 ·
I guess I'm in the minortity here. I take everything to the dry cleaners, and I've never had a problem. I travel every week for work, so my time at home is limited.

With that being said, I guess I consider all my clothes shrink to fit... meaning that I expect shrinking and size up accordingly. Yea, buttons break, but the dry cleaners will always sew a new one on for free.

I have a few suits have been in rotation for over 5 years, and have been to the dry cleaners about every two weeks, and they still seem to be fine.

How do you clean and press suits at home?
 
#18 ·
Cold water wash cycle, warm tumble dry until mostly dry (still slightly damp), then steam iron and hange. I've got my ironing procedure down to 1-2 minutes per shirt. Put on your basketball game of choice in the background and it is no longer even a choir! Hook'em. Yes, cleaners will sew replacement buttons, but the replacement rarely matches.

Case: I turned in a BB cardigan a few weeks ago with pristine buttons. It came back with every button chipped. :mad:. Sure, you can ask for a refund, but I still felt violated.
 
#19 ·
When your shirts are stained you might just try applying some Spray'n'Wash and laundering at home. Maybe you could Spray'n'Wash before dropping off at the cleaners. It's pretty amazing stuff.
 
#20 ·
For those of you who opt for washing your clothing at home, what routines do you follow? I find that with some of my shirts, I wear them for so little time, never getting them dirty or sweaty, that it almost seems like a waste to wash them. Do any of you hang your shirts back up after light wearing and wait to wash them after you wear them a second time?

As for drying, I've been drying most of my clothes on Delicate for about 15-20 minutes, taking them out, and letting them hang dry the rest. Is this good practice? And when should I iron? When they're damp (i.e. before I hang them)? Or after they dry?
 
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Joe Beamish
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