Shirt Care
Knowing how to properly care for your Phoenix Bespoke custom shirts is essential in preserving their
condition and their ability to project a crisp, well-groomed appearance.
Many men ask, "How do I clean and care for my custom shirts?"
Tips on how to care for and extend the life of your shirts:
- Wash your brand new custom shirt before wearing in order to remove any toxic chemicals and to soften the material.
- To avoid embarrassing moments and the nuisance of losing buttons, routinely check your custom shirt for any loose threads and unsecured buttons.
- To preserve the shirts fabric and color, machine wash your custom shirts using the gentle cycle with luke-warm water.
- Do not dry-clean your shirts! The chemicals contained in dry cleaning fluid will destroy the fabric and may even turn your custom shirt yellow. Instead, request that your shirts be laundered.
- Starching while pressing shirts causes cotton fibers to weaken. To preserve a crisp look, buy custom shirts with high thread counts.
- To avoid antiperspirant stains, spray your deodorant or cologne on your body and wait for it to dry before wearing the shirt.
- To prevent permanent staining, promptly wash your custom shirt before the stain sets and is absorbed into the fabric.
- To avoid lifting the color out of your shirts or "color runs", separate your shirts before laundering into three categories: whites, colors and darks. To whiten your white shirts, use bleaches (Clorox for example). For colors, use a diluted solution or bleach specially formulated for colors. As for your dark colored shirts, avoid bleaching altogether.
- Check for and clean stains prior to pressing. Heat from an iron will permanently set the stain into the fabric.
- Unless you have a formidable steam iron, it is best to iron your custom shirts while the fabric is damp, as to not scorch or damage the fabric. It also makes it easier to remove wrinkles.
Tips for Ironing your custom dress shirts:
- Collar - To iron the collar, starting from its underside. Iron away from the collar points toward the back of the neck area. Then turn the shirt over and iron the same way for the front of the collar.
- Yoke - Iron the yoke area starting from the neck outwards to the center of the shirt. If there are pleats at the yoke, iron the pleats flat in the direction of the fold.
- Cuff - Similar to the collars, iron the cuffs inside out. Always remember to lay the sleeves flat and start from the cuff upward, then iron the other side as well.
- Shirt body - Iron the torso starting from the shoulders down to the shirt ends. Do it step by step starting from the right torso panel then to the left panel. This will keep each side equally well-ironed. Remember to iron in-between the buttons as well with the iron tip.
Hanging your Custom shirts:
To keep your custom dress shirts in a nice shape, use wooden or plastic hangers with firm shoulders. Wire hangers will destroy the shape of your custom shirts.