How to properly wash and maintain your clothes

Thought this guide might come in handy for some of you clueless monkeys (myself included) who were never taught how to properly wash and care for your clothes. For whatever reason, Mom & Pop never imparted a shred of wisdom to me about caring for my clothes (or maybe I just wasn't listening), and consequently, I've ended up with more shrunken/worn out/perma-stained shirts than I can count.

Miraculously, though, I stumbled upon this guide from the friendly metrosexuals over at Reddit's Male Fashion Advice forum. Now, if I'm reading this stuff right, apparently I've been doing everything as wrong as possible when it comes to laundry. Tumble dry only okay for socks and undies? Only dry clean a suit once a year? NEVER dry clean dress shirts?

Now, I can already hear you guys spitting out your scotch and choking on your Seamless over the notion of NEVER taking shirts to the dry cleaner. I know, I know, you work 300 hours a week and it's ridiculous to entertain the thought of having the time to wash and air dry your own shirts. But just do yourself a favor and check out the guide, I guarantee you'll learn something.

PSA: Guide to washing clothes and dry cleaning

 
Best Response

Whoever wrote that must have a really interesting and exciting life. His apartment must be absolutely overwhelmed with various hang-drying clothes and he must have lots of fun hand-washing various items and "gently brushing" his suits after wearing them. I can't wait to massage a bi-carb of soda paste into the collars of my dress shirts and then dip the underarms in a 50/50 cloudy ammonia/water mixture.

And I'll really enjoy the process of "gently pulling my T-shirts into shape" after washing. God knows my free Walk for Breast Cancer t-shirt is a treasure that will be passed along for hundreds of years.

 

No need to be a dick, my friend. While the guide might sound uppity and pedantic on its surface, I personally found some real gems in there. For instance, the "bi-carb of soda paste" advice that you mentioned actually works; I used it on a shirt of mine that I thought was ruined, and bam, my disgusting sweat stains came right off the inside of the collar. I don't know your particular circumstances, maybe you prefer to just swing by Brooks Brothers every other Friday and sweep an arm load of Non-Irons off the shelf, but me personally, I'm a cheap ass, so I want to make my shirts last longer and look better.

 

Obviously spent a lot of time on that, but I disagree with the philosophy. Seems to be the kind of guy who loads up on $200 designer shirts and cashmere sweaters. This is why 80% of my non-business wear is jeans that cost less than $50 and t-shirts that cost less than $30. Rather buy new when they get worn out than fret over hang-drying my Levis.

For the record--and in order to prolong life of my casual wear--I do separate clothes by dark/light/white and wash everything (except underwear/socks) in cold water and tumble dry low.

 

Gotta love people breaking balls. This boys and girls is good knowledge on how to take care of nice clothes so they last a long time.

I hang dry probably 80% of my stuff. Keeps the color sharp and less wear on the clothes.

This shit is called being an professional man.

 

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