Laundering Shirts

[UK2004]

Mother has laundered shirts for years(Turnbull and Asset, Hilditch and Key, Borrelli etc). My partner is taking over the duty and am keen for some advice on best detergent to use, any softener, number of spins, correct temperature etc. Told her to ask my mother but she has not got round to it so thought would get some opinions on here. I see the Laundress seen to of had to pull all their products for now. I'm very particular about my shirtings not being damaged or over shrink. My mother will still be doing the ironing. Have tried London's best launderers before and they still smashed mother of pearl buttons!!

 

[bicycleradical]

I use gentle unscented detergents, wash in cold water, and hang dry. That's served me pretty well for many years now. Some shirts shrunk but most have not.

 

[SteveMc]

Unless the shirts have stains that might need special care in that particular spot. This is what I do:
No softeners - the ironing will take care of that. Cold water, gentle cycle. Better yet, avoid spin cycle all together. Drain the machine, take out shirt and squeeze, but don't wring to get rid of excess water. Then hang dry or flat dry.

 

[rjc149]

Adding the soundtrack to this thread:

 

[UK2004]

I use gentle unscented detergents, wash in cold water, and hang dry. That's served me pretty well for many years now. Some shirts shrunk but most have not.

Unless the shirts have stains that might need special care in that particular spot. This is what I do:
No softeners - the ironing will take care of that. Cold water, gentle cycle. Better yet, avoid spin cycle all together. Drain the machine, take out shirt and squeeze, but don't wring to get rid of excess water. Then hang dry or flat dry.

Thank you, so is cold not the same as 30 degrees that they used? How to avoid spin cycle, does that mean no spinning? Never used a washing machine myself so pretty clueless! I'll go and buy a new detergent today.

I've just read my socks should be washed in a delicate silk/wool liquid, think my partner has been damaging my socks after recently starting to wash them.

 

[Bankers_Stripes]

My method is to just put my shirts in the washing machine on the most gentle cycle with a small amount of detergent (any detergent I’m not picky). Then I hang them to dry. I always keeps whites and colors separate when washing.

Sometimes when I feel like it I take them to the dry cleaners still.

I do this for all my shirts…most are Zilli, Brioni, Attolini.

But I’m probably not as particular as most of the guys on this forum.

 

[SteveMc]

Thank you, so is cold not the same as 30 degrees that they used? How to avoid spin cycle, does that mean no spinning? Never used a washing machine myself so pretty clueless! I'll go and buy a new detergent today.

I've just read my socks should be washed in a delicate silk/wool liquid, think my partner has been damaging my socks after recently starting to wash them.

Yes, cold means less than 30 degrees. 30 degrees is the default for cotton shirts even expensive ones. but I find that if the shirts aren't dirty cold water is good enough.

Depending on the machine, typically there's a drain only button or knob that you can set. When set, the machine will not go into a spin dry cycle, it'll just drain the water from the machine.

 

[maxalex]

Cold water will not remove summer sweat odors from shirts, I don’t care what the soap and machine manufacturers say. How can you tell? Iron the armpits, then take a whiff while hot. Smell b.o.? Not clean. Rewash in warm for colors, hot for whites.

Moreover, white shirts benefit from an overnight soak using oxy powder, then scrubbing collars, armpits and cuffs with Marseille soap and a stiff brush. This is how to prevent or remove yellow stains.

We don’t have dryers in Italy but if we did, I would still line dry dress shirts. Shrinkage is never a problem.

 

[UK2004]

I purchased some wool and silk and delicates detergent for my socks and underwear. Can this be used for shirts as well?

 

[breakaway01]

This is such a strange thread. We're just talking about washing cotton shirts, not how to restore Louis XIV's coronation robe. Very much doubt that the exact formulation of the detergent is going to matter much.

Washing machines draw water from your hot and cold water supply; they don't cool or heat the water. So "cold" is tap water cold but that's fine for washing clothes; we're not talking about literal ice water for washing clothes.

The one thing about washing machines I think is worth mentioning is that I'd avoid top load washers with agitators. These are more likely to put stress on fabrics than spinning would. I personally don't think spinning cotton shirts in the washing machine is a problem.

 

[UK2004]

Oh dear, somehow some colour ran in to one of my blue shirts or something else happened that has caused some pink in it. Any idea how to remove it, really like the shirt and had only worn it once.