Formal Shirt Care

How to make sure your shirt looks its best, for longer

If you take the time to follow a careful regimen of washing, ironing, storage and repair, your fine shirts will maintain their fresh appearance and last for years. Further down the page we have included some tips on the best way to care for a formal shirt.

Our Choice: Men's Formal Shirts

Below are some of the fine examples of men's formal shirts, from some of the top names in quality shirt making in UK.

Washing Your Shirt

Wash a new shirt before you wear it for the first time. Some chemicals from manufacture or even chalk and dust from the tailor shop may be present in the shirt and should be removed to avoid skin irritation. Also, any new fabric that starts out stiff will soften once it's been washed. It's usually best to use cool water to wash a shirt, even a white one.

It's usually best to avoid dry-cleaning your shirt. Chemicals used in dry-cleaning can yellow or distort the colour of a shirt and may cause skin irritation. If you take your shirts to a shop to be cleaned, always specify that the shirts be laundered - be absolutely sure of what will be done by also saying the shirts must not be dry-cleaned. Do not have the shirts starched if they are to be ironed. In fact, avoid all starching if possible. The fibres of cloth weaken when starched and you do not want weak fibres in your shirt.

Separate the whites from colours when doing a wash load of shirts on your own. Wash the whites in one load, the light colours in another load and the dark colours in a final load. You can add bleach to the load of white shirts, but do not add bleach to either load of colours.

Ironing Your Shirt

Turn any dark-coloured shirt or any shirt made of artificial fibres inside-out for ironing. Natural-fibre white shirts should be ironed right-side-out.

When ironing the body of the shirt, start at the shoulders and move the iron down toward the bottom of the shirt. Do the left panel with the buttonholes first and then the right panel with the buttons - it's just easier that way. When ironing around a button, use the pointed tip of the iron to press the fabric in all around the button.

When ironing the yoke of the shirt, start at the top near the collar and iron down toward the tails of the shirt. Iron any pleats as they are, in the same direction as the pleat.

When ironing the collar, start at the back of the shirt. Iron from the underside of the collar outward. However, when coming to the points, reverse direction and iron from a point inward toward the neck. Flip the shirt over and iron the top side of the collar in the same way.

When ironing the cuffs and sleeves, use the same procedure as for the collar. Lay the shirt front up. Turn the cuffs inside-out and stretch out the entire sleeve. Iron from the far point of the cuff up the sleeve to the shoulder. Do both sleeves in this way and then flip the shirt over to do the other sides of the cuffs and the sleeves.

Storing Your Shirt

Never use a thin wire hanger for your shirt - always use a thick wood or plastic hanger. Wash and press your shirts before hanging them, especially if the shirts will be left hanging for some time. A storage bag that fits over the hangers will be very useful at keeping moths at bay.

Wearing Your shirts

When you apply anti-perspirant or cologne to your body, allow it to dry before you put on your shirt. If you do get such a stain on your shirt, wash your shirt as soon as possible. Check your shirt for other stains before you wash them - take measures appropriate for the kind of stain before cleaning and pressing the shirt.

Repairing Your Shirts

Check your shirt each time you take it off for loose threads, dangling buttons and the beginnings of rips. Never pull on a loose thread - always cut the thread off as close as possible to the fabric. If you can sew, it's easy to re-fasten a button. But, if you're not a sewing person, bring the shirt in to a seamstress or tailor for repair. Rips are a calamity about which only a good tailor can properly advise you.