Recommend any genuinely comfortable "non-iron" shirts brands?

shiphen

bouncydog1 wrote: »

Well Ive invested in an energy efficient AEG condenser dryer, which I dry pretty much everything in because you can just hang stuff and there are no creases! Having said that I still iron everything because I can't bear not to (and I do have a life)!!

Non iron shirts from M&S dried and hung up could go straight in the wardrobe!

Confused
A) do you use hangers inside your AEG condenser dryer?
or area you saying that there is something about the dryer that means it does not cause wrinkles/creases?

why do you iron something if there are no creases?

Your "non-iron" shirts from M&S - are they polyester-cotton or 100% cottton (but presumably treated in some clever way)?

shiphen

Biggles wrote: »

I don't do it for pleasure - it's amongst all my other shirts, most of which will require an iron, so it gets done along with them.

If you're really opposed to ironing, you may be surprised how many of your existing shirts will look quite smart just dried on a decent clothes hanger.

I have tried using hangers, believe me. I have work/formal shirts and informal 100% cotton shirts. I guess most of my shirts are getting quite old now, and either way not a single one is really acceptable what dried on a hanger. So I need to find a decent brand of non-iron shirt that is genuinely comfortable and genuinely non-iron - if such a things exists.

TM Lewin look reasonably cheap (c. £40 each) I shall investigate and revert!

Clive_Woody

shiphen wrote: »

I am UK based. I have tried "non-iron" shirts from ctshirts .co.uk here in the UK, which some friends seem to use, but personally I found them to feel like cardboard and are extremely uncomfortable on the skin almost immediately.

I am a bit surprised to hear this as I have a number of non-iron Charles Tyrwhitt shirts and they are nice and soft. They have been washed a good few times so maybe they soften with use but I've been happy enough with them. Out of the packet they will not be that soft but give them a couple of washes and they should be fine.

They do a number of different cotton weaves, but I am not sure if they are all available in the non-iron variant, but some are almost like silk they are so soft.

I avoid poly-cotton shirts as I find them hot and not as comfortable as pure cotton shirts.

dominoman

Another vote for Charles Tyrwhitt shirts from me. I find their non-iron ones perfectly comfortable. I've also bought non-iron from Thomas Pink and TM Lewin, but I personally prefer the cut at CT.

I really wouldn't go down the poly cotton route. Anything less than 100% cotton will make you look like a Dixon's shop assistant and will turn into a sweaty mess in Summer.

Anyone who says you need to spend £100 or more on a shirt is speaking rubbish - or else they live in the US where it is nearly impossible to buy decent shirts however much you pay. £30-40 will get you a perfectly decent cotton shirt here.

spo2

sew_what wrote: »

I bought my son a M&S classic collection "pure cotton performance" shirt that is tuly non-iron. Even when I iron it I can't put a crease in the sleeve!

I have a (ladies) M+S non iron one and it's really good. I would recommend it!

Waldir

Hi Shiphen,

Please report back if you find such a nice zero-maintenance soft-to-the-skin shirt!
I'd love to find exactly what you're looking for as well!

Cheers

Ectophile

shiphen wrote: »

Confused - if leaving them still damp, there isn't much point in using the tumble dryer (??)

Also poly-cotton seem to be rather uncomfortable against the skin, (at least my TShirts ones certainly were!) but maybe M&S are better?

The tumble dryer is to get the clothes from wet to just a little damp.

When I lived in a flat, I used to take all my washing to the launderette. Unlike the other customers, I just stuck £1 in the tumble dryer, so the clothes were still a little bit damp.

I would then pull everything out of the dryer, and shove it all into big sacks to carry back home. No attempt at folding anything.

Once home, I'd hang all my shirts up to finish drying. I never needed to iron them, except for special occasions.

shiphen

Clive_Woody wrote: »

I am a bit surprised to hear this as I have a number of non-iron Charles Tyrwhitt shirts and they are nice and soft. They have been washed a good few times so maybe they soften with use but I've been happy enough with them. Out of the packet they will not be that soft but give them a couple of washes and they should be fine.

They do a number of different cotton weaves, but I am not sure if they are all available in the non-iron variant, but some are almost like silk they are so soft.

I avoid poly-cotton shirts as I find them hot and not as comfortable as pure cotton shirts.

I'm going to stick my neck out here. The shirts I bought at CTShirts were as follows:
FON0674SKY166S Slim fit non-iron micro spot sky shirt
FON0219BLU166S Slim fit non-iron royal Panama blue shirt

One is definitely 100% I'm not sure about the other as I sent it back and CTShirt website unhelpfully fails to tell you. Either way the 100% cotten shirt has of course been treated with something to make the cotton "non-iron". And whatever that that process is seems to turn it into more like cardboard.

Eton shirt are in a totally different league is terms of softness, that's for sure!

In my opinion the two CTShirts I bought are absolutely awful. They are the most uncomfortable shirts I have ever worn in three decades, and moreover bad frankly you do still need to iron the blighters. One I sent back, the other I have put through the wash three times already hoping it will soften, but no. The only way I can tolerate it is wearing a T-shirt underneath. Awful, awful, awful.

shiphen

Ectophile wrote: »

The tumble dryer is to get the clothes from wet to just a little damp.

When I lived in a flat, I used to take all my washing to the launderette. Unlike the other customers, I just stuck £1 in the tumble dryer, so the clothes were still a little bit damp.

I would then pull everything out of the dryer, and shove it all into big sacks to carry back home. No attempt at folding anything.

Once home, I'd hang all my shirts up to finish drying. I never needed to iron them, except for special occasions.

Ectophile - Not drying the shirts to bone dry sounds like a clever move, as is using polyester-cotton mix, if that is you can stomach the feeling & poor wicking quality of polyester-cotton.

But how long are you needing to let them hang in order to get them cupboard dry? Also, what temperature are you keeping your central heating thermostat?

Here in the UK, to save money I run my house at no more than 19 degrees C, and I find that unless I put shirts near a heat source, I find that often they NEVER get dry enough. And if I leave them out for a couple of weeks they very slowly start to smell a bit "musty" !

Either way time is still "money" and I resist all your multi-stage handling. If you are hanging them up to dry the last bit, then why not put them straight onto the hanger and leave them for longer?

Also, I am genuinely curious, do you never use a washing line/air dryer outside?

Ectophile

shiphen wrote: »

Ectophile - Not drying the shirts to bone dry sounds like a clever move, as is using polyester-cotton mix, if that is you can stomach the feeling & poor wicking quality of polyester-cotton.

But how long are you needing to let them hang in order to get them cupboard dry? Also, what temperature are you keeping your central heating thermostat?

Here in the UK, to save money I run my house at no more than 19 degrees C, and I find that unless I put shirts near a heat source, I find that often they NEVER get dry enough. And if I leave them out for a couple of weeks they very slowly start to smell a bit "musty" !

Either way time is still "money" and I resist all your multi-stage handling. If you are hanging them up to dry the last bit, then why not put them straight onto the hanger and leave them for longer?

Also, I am genuinely curious, do you never use a washing line/air dryer outside?

Now that I've moved out of the flat, I have a washing machine, but no dryer. So everything is spin-dried only (usually on the highest speed), then hung up.

If it's sunny, they go on the line, otherwise it's on indoors.

Central heating is at 18C. Most clothes dry OK within a day - so I need the guest bedroom as a drying room. I can imagine that for other people that could cause damp problems, but so far I've been OK.