[Anonymous]

Hi fellas

Recently got some new dress shirts for work and am wondering...I typically only dry clean my work shirts and suits. With these new shirts, should I go ahead and toss it in the washer/dryer to 'pre-shrink' before bringing to the tailor OR should I just take them to the dry cleaner, have it dry cleaned, and then take them on over? Again I will only have these shirts dry cleaned (not used in home w/d) but shoot if I am not conflicted right now!

 

[SG_67]

The notion of actually dry cleaning a shirt sounds odd. Most cleaners will launder the shirt and then press it.

What are you getting altered or tailored? Wash and line dry the shirt. Then press it and wear it. If something still needs to be altered, then consider it.

 

[Searching_Best_Fit]

Dress shirts do not need to be *dry-cleaned*, i.e. clean it without water. They can be safely laundered with detergent and water, in a commercial or home washing machine. The hassle, as some may consider, is the after-the-wash work of ironing and pressing. You choose how you want to do with your shirts.

Going either ways, the shirt could shrink to a different degrees, but unfortunately I do not have data to illustrate the shrinkage of each method.

The shirt shrinking is not a one-time deal. It is a continuing effect throughout its life. So to answer your question, it does not matter if you wash it yourself or send it to cleaner for laundering, it can shrink a little. The next time you wash it again, it can shrink a bit more. So depends on what alteration you want to do, you might need to wash it 2 or 3 times *before* you try any alteration so that the shirt will not become too small or too tight with more washes.

If these are the new shirts, just wear those and wash them.

 

[Anonymous]

Hey thank you all!

I suppose I meant the 'pressing' element of a dry cleaner. I have always preferred to have my shirts pressed by a cleaner, so I suppose I'm asking, if they will be continually pressed at my cleaners instead of laundered at home, should I just take them to the dry cleaners and then have them altered?

 

[ndlutz]

I would just take it to the tailor first but that’s just me. I don’t think you can go wrong either way.

 

[Searching_Best_Fit]

@Anonymous IMHO I think you should wear and wait for a while for the shirt to shrink to some degree before doing any alteration. For example, suppose if you need to shorten the sleeve, and since this is one of the areas that the shirt will shrink, when you just alter a new shirt to your desired length and then wear and wash it from time to time, eventually the sleeve length will become too short due to shrinkage and render it useless. You should wear and wash it several times to let it shrink to a point and then attempt the alteration to reduce the risk of that scenario happening. The same thing could be said for shirt length.

OTOH, if your alteration is with taking in the waist, it may or may not be that important to worry about shrinkage since those measurements do not vary too much from washes.

I do not think that pressing at home or professionally could shrink the shirt.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you to all for the suggestions so far!

 

[derum]

Never use a hot wash, and never put them in a dryer. This advice was given to me at Turnbull and Asser. I follow it and have no shrinkage issues. Also, as most of my shirts have MoP buttons, I never get them pressed at a cleaners, the heat they use destroys them.

 

[Anonymous]

darn I have mother of pearl on these as well! Does this mean I've destined myself to a lifetime of ironing myself? Np with that, but this will change my entire washing approach prior to altering

 

[Matt S]

No matter how you care for your shirts, you will experience at least a little shrinkage. Even the best shirts shrink when washed delicately. When making bespoke shirts, the cloth is pre-washed to minimize shrinking, but there is a little bit of stretching when the shirts are made. Over the first two or three washes the cloth will shrink back to where it should be, though the shirt can be slightly stretched out again when ironing.

Commercial laundry shrinks shirts a large amount. Shirts should be laundered at least twice no matter your method before altering. If you ever plan to send the shirts out to commercial laundry, you should use that method a few times before altering.

Mother of pearl buttons can also break when laundering at home. I even broke a mother of pearl button when hand-washing a shirt!

 

[Peak and Pine]

1. Never use a hot wash...

   Phooey. Experience shows that cotton shirts shrink just once and this is almost entirely due to how they're dried, not washed. I wash shirts as hot as I can, even boiling a gallon or two to add to the tub. It's cleanliness over preservation. But not in a machine. That bouncing thing is for socks, towels, sheets and undies. Shirts are agitated super hot by hand (holding a plunger) in a bucket o'suds for c. 10 minutes. Then to a line in the sun in summer, a line above the wood stove right now. And while cleanliness before preservation is the goal, I've shirts from the time I began this method, 30 years ago or so. They've not shrunk since Day Two, which is the first day after the first wash, and I smell like the Sleeping Venus

 

[Peak and Pine]

What Matt says above is probably correct (and useful), but drying is not addressed. Shirts don't shrink bathed in water hot or cold. They shrink as the water evaporates and the fibers constrict, i. e., while drying.

 

[SG_67]

I wonder why some are so resistant to washing, drying and ironing their own shirts.

I wash in cold water, on gentle. The frontiersman gene has been bred out of me so no plunger and bucket o’ suds for me.

Any way, cold and on gentle. Hang dry on a rack overnight, then iron the next morning. The washing is typically done on Friday night so Saturday morning I can sit back, relax, have my coffee and then start ironing as I indulge in a few episodes of Twilight Zone.

This also gives me a chance to inspect the garment for wear and for loose buttons.

 

[JBierly]

I wonder why some are so resistant to washing, drying and ironing their own shirts.

The minute I got a paying job I started taking my shirts to the cleaners. That was 30 years ago and I have never looked back. I can do a decent job of laundering, but it's just simply something I don't care to do. The cleaners do a better job of pressing the shirts and I haven't found unusual damage.

 

[derum]

1. Phooey. Experience shows that cotton shirts shrink just once and this is almost entirely due to how they're dried, not washed. I wash shirts as hot as I can, even boiling a gallon or two to add to the tub. It's cleanliness over preservation. But not in a machine. That bouncing thing is for socks, towels, sheets and undies. Shirts are agitated super hot by hand (holding a plunger) in a bucket o'suds for c. 10 minutes. Then to a line in the sun in summer, a line above the wood stove right now. And while cleanliness before preservation is the goal, I've shirts from the time I began this method, 30 years ago or so. They've not shrunk since Day Two, which is the first day after the first wash, and I smell like the Sleeping Venus

Bless. It's nice to hear from the 1800's.
Excessive heat, irrespective of the source, is the cause of shrinkage.
Cotton shrinks due to a process known as relaxation shrinkage. Relaxation shrinkage occurs due to the manner in which cotton is constructed and woven. When a cotton shirt is made, for example, the cotton fibers are stretched and woven together to create a product that is tougher and more resilient to damage. This creates a natural, persistent tension within the cotton fibers. According to cotton.org, "the tension is released when the fabric is washed or steam pressed, causing it to shrink to its natural size."

 

[Peak and Pine]

Bless. It's nice to hear from the 1800's.
Excessive heat, irrespective of the source, is the cause of shrinkage.
Cotton shrinks due to a process known as relaxation shrinkage. Relaxation shrinkage occurs due to the manner in which cotton is constructed and woven. When a cotton shirt is made, for example, the cotton fibers are stretched and woven together to create a product that is tougher and more resilient to damage. This creates a natural, persistent tension within the cotton fibers. According to cotton.org, "the tension is released when the fabric is washed or steam pressed, causing it to shrink to its natural size."

Looks like somebody's had a Google night on the town.

And come up with little. When cotton strands are saturated, hot or cold, they bloat. When dried rapidly with high heat they contract to their natural state, i. e., as the threads were before woven, cut, sewn, treated, etc. This is referred to generally as shrinkage. This info, provided free to you, does not come from a dot org, but from personal observation.

 

[derum]

Looks like somebody's had a Google night on the town.

And come up with little. When cotton strands are saturated, hot or cold, they bloat. When dried rapidly with high heat they contract to their natural state, i. e., as the threads were before woven, cut, sewn, treated, etc. This is referred to generally as shrinkage. This info, provided free to you, does not come from a dot org, but from personal observation.

Hot water shrinks cotton. This info, provided free to you, does not come from peakandpine.nut

 

[Peak and Pine]

I wonder why some are so resistant to washing, drying and ironing their own shirts.

I'm sort of with you here. Sort of because it's not much of my business and wonderment has its bounds, but speaking of this, this...

The minute I got a paying job I started taking my shirts to the cleaners....and I have never looked back.

That might more sense if this wasn't a clothing forum, which presumes an interest in clothes beyond the act of wearing them, such as personally caring for them. But maybe not.

 

[Peak and Pine]

Hot water shrinks cotton. This info, provided free to you, does not come from peakandpine.nut

We're having a masque by candle light outside up here in the snow tonight. Hope you can make it. Two costumes unspoken for, Mexican bandito and French boulevardier. Your choice.

 

[Dhaller]

One of the many amazing experiences one has in Japan is having shirts laundered, because they *individually wrap* each button in protective material to prevent breakage.

In some cases (an extremely fine bespoke shirt with MoP buttons, say) they will *remove* the buttons, launder and press the shirt, and then *sew them back on*. Perfectly, of course.

I just never tire of Japanese service philosophy.

I have looked for this practice in the USA, but have yet to find it anywhere.

DH