Shirt Longevity

[6.13.2007 | Issaquah ]
Allen Indman

How long should a shirt last because I usually have to toss mine after a year. Sometimes it's the collar shrinking sometimes it's the cuffs wearing out next to my watch.

-A

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1 responses to: "Shirt Longevity"

Wednesday, October 3, 2007 Jeff Collins, Professional Haberdasher says: Allen, Personally, I have a couple shirts dated 1999. Sure I don't wear them as often as some of my favorites but they are still in the rotation perhaps once a month. Given that, they've been worn almost 100 times. Statistics show an average shirt has about a 52 launderings life-span. That can be better or worse depending on temperature, starch, etc. I had to let go of one of my favorite shirts last month that was made in May of 2002. It lasted 5 years and I wore it at least monthly if not more because I usually went to it first when I got my dry cleaning back. So that one probably made it through 75 wearings, perhaps more. It was also a chambray fabric which means it was a bit thinner and more sensitive to begin with. All in all it held up quite well. My clients have told me of similar longevity for their custom shirts. I do think that a better fit definitely adds to the life of a shirt. Take your frayed cuff for example. That is a function of not having an allowance for the size of your watch so the cuff can easily move over it without getting caugth. A custom shirt takes 15 different measurements into account, each being independant of one another. 12 years ago when I was wearing ready made shirts I would get tired of the sloppy fit before it wore out and buy a new shirt, thinking the newness of it would help. It didn't. A better fit helps how you feel about the shirt, how you feel about your outfit and as a result how you feel about yourself. Now let's consider the tightness in the neck. Every ready made shirt I've seen has had fusing in the collar & cuff. That is a glue in between the fabric. It allows it to be stiffer and hold up through the day. But when heated up in the laundering process it shrinks a little each time. That is why a gentleman who has a skin tight neck of 16" finds that a 16 1/2" fits well now but not in a year. (Side note: a pamphlet I picked up in my optometrist's office showed a study of wearing a shirt too tight in the neck; the result was that it can damage a man's eye sight) So that man with a 16" neck buys a 17" collar, which is a bit sloppier now but fits better in a year. He's learned from experience if he doesn't want to replace the shirt in 12 months then he has to endure a not so great fit now. With custom shirts the neck is measured to the 1/4" and the collar can be made without fusing, adding to the life of a shirt. That gent should probably have a non-fused 16 3/4" shirt. Here's where I add the cost/benefit analysis. If your ready made shirt lasts half as long as it should then you've already paid twice as much because you have to replace it in half the time. You've also missed the benefit of a superior fitting custom shirt and the freedom of design. Thank you for your question.

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