Turnbull and Asser Shirts

I don't understand how one thing can be more difficult to iron than another. With my T&A's, and that goes for the rest of my shirts too, I hang them out to dry on a hanger whilst still wet. This makes them easy to iron.

I thought that would depend on the fabric you choose? I personally have not had problems ironing pure cotton shirts of differing qualities as long as the shirt is damp when I iron it. Your poor wife. You should either learn to iron, or take your laundered shirts to the dry cleaner's to be pressed.

How much does it cost to get shirts pressed for you? I don't understand how/why one could buy a $200-400 shirt and not pony up $1-3 to have the shirt cleaned and pressed.

Agree with the other posts, if they are damp shouldn't be an issue. However, with two kids under 3 years old we have better things to do with our time than ironing. We have a Philippino couple come round for 4 hours per week, costing only €30 per week for the two of them, of which the French taxman gives us half back. In those 4 hours they clean the whole house and the guy does all the laundry and ironing. Boy can that guy iron, my shirts have never looked so good and its very little money to spend for a lot of time saved.

Stick with the regular fabrics, very easy to iron. The Sea Island, though wonderful, puckers and is a bitch to iron. These also do not last as long as their normal fabrics, and are more expensive.

Turnbull makes a wonderful no-iron shirt in Dacron.

Their Sea Island Quality shirts are pretty wrinkle prone.

+1

I think that she is probably referring to the cut, location of pleats, etc more than the fabric used when your wife says that some of your shirts are hard to iron. Also, things like the shirred sleeves on a Borrelli (for example) shirt can make ironing more difficult. It is harder to get the sleeve to lay flat and smooth to iron in the crease with the shirred sleeves vs. a standard sleeve. My guess is that your wife is referring to these types of "issues" with your harder to iron shirts, rather than the type/quality of the cotton used in them. So, you may want to ask her about that, and keep it in mind as you select your shirts.

Of course, I could be way off base. In which case, please ignore everything I wrote.

Aaron

I have 10+ T&A shirts of which all I iron myself. I use to have them cleaned and pressed but Lady Canucker is a mad women when it comes to cleaning them and I enjoy the ironing.

I love ironing my shirts. Wash on cold, spin, then iron straight away whilst listening to the radio. Bliss.

+1, but it's not just that. There's lots of things that make shirts easier or harder to iron, including: 1) fusible (glued interfacing) collars and cuffs are easier to iron. I think some makers even put it in the placket and seams; 2) heavier cotton is easier to iron than thinner, fine stuff; 3) fine patterns (e.g., blue oxfords) just look less wrinkled or puckered than solid colors even when they are wrinkled the same; and, 4) a better-made shirt is easier to iron (fine stitching, properly sewed, pre-shrunk fabric, etc). I'm sure there's lots more.

Oh, right, and 5) fabrics that don't scorch or shine easily are much easier to iron.