Welcome to the Boulder Cleaners News- our monthly newsletter to support your household with timely knowledge on maintaining your favorite clothes and other items.

The Dirt On Clean Shirts

Have you ever had a "favorite shirt". You know the one that feels good when you wear, flatters your appearance and you wish you'd have bought seven of so that you could feel that way every day of the week? Sure, we all have at one time or another. And one day you've got to retire that old friend to the rag bag or allocate it to wearing when your doing yard chores because it's just not presentable anymore. Well here are some tips and facts that can help you extend the life of your favorite frock and help you hold onto that feeling a little longer.

Hot Around The Collar?

Americans are the hardest working people on the planet. We're rushing out the door everyday, headed to board meetings, waiting on customers, doing physical labor, you name it we're doing it. The whole time trying to look our best doing what we do to make a living. And every time we slip into the sleeves and button up the front, we are contributing to the demise of even the best made shirt. Neck band, collar & collar folds, not to mention cuffs are exposed to ground in soiling from from perspiration, body oils, colognes, hair tonics or preparations, medicines, and other types of skin preparations. After each wearing, more and more soiling builds up in the area. To prevent excess buildup of body staining in the collar area, it is suggested that men’s dress shirts be cleaned after each wearing; however, some buildup may still occur. This type of staining may not be easily removed in normal commercial or home laundering procedures. In fact, the collar area may require stain removal procedures with a solvent-based agent. In some cases, it may be impossible to remove staining on cotton/polyester-blend dress shirts – even with treatment in the collar area – because polyester fibers easily retain the oily components from body oils and perspiration.

The Hard Pill

Repeated rubbing and abrasion on the collar fold can result in fabric damage. Pilling, the most prevalent type of fabric damage in the collar fold, results from the breaking of fibers due to localized rubbing, which then pill or ball up and remain on the surface. Often, this type of damage is not noticeable until after the shirt has been worn several times or after the agitation of cleaning. Cotton and cotton/polyester blend shirts are usually more susceptible to this type of damage. Fraying along the Collar Fold Sometimes, men’s dress shirts show fraying or thinning on the collar fold and/or cuffs due to repeated rubbing and abrasion against the body during use. The repeated rubbing causes some of the surface fibers to weaken, and when the item is subjected to the necessary agitation of cleaning, the weakened fibers flush away, resulting in thin areas. Fraying or thinning of the collar fold usually does not become noticeable until after the item has been worn many times. It is possible to "turn the collar" on some shirts to prolong your favorite shirt's life.

See Your Shrink

Most dress shirts are difficult to shrink. The manufacturer has already allowed for the normal two percent and progressive shrinking requirements. This shrinkage is usually not enough to cause a complaint. Shrinkage beyond this is usually due to poorly stabilized materials. Shrinkage complaints can easily be resolved by measuring the collar and sleeve length. Measure the collar from the end of the buttonhole to the center of the button. Measure the sleeve length in a straight line from the center of the back of the collar at the seam to the end of the cuff. If these measurements correspond to the shirt size, it has not shrunk. Off The Cuff....now that you have all this new knowledge of "life in the day" of a dress shirt we hope your are armed to extend that life and delegate an old t-shirt to wear while painting the garage.

Thank you for reading our September 2006 issue of Boulder Cleaners News. Please let us know if you have any suggestions or comments by contacting us at info@bouldercleaners.com