What is starch, anyway? Its that thing in French fries, right?
Well, actually, it is. The kind of starch used for laundering your
work shirts is the powdered form of the complex carbohydrate found
in vegetables like potatoes and corn. And like those French fries
that could eventually harden your arteries, laundry starch is used
to stiffen fabrics.
Why bother with a stiff shirt? You dont iron, right? Using starch
in shirts helps control wrinkles when you put the shirt on.
Remember Miami Vice and all those linen suits? In the real world,
linen (a cotton generally laundered without starch) wrinkles up the
second you put it on and move. Since most SharpMen dont work as
police detectives in Miami, the cotton they tend to wear takes the
form of plain ol work shirts. But even crisply ironed cotton
shirts can look unkempt minutes after youve put them on
especially during summer heat (even outside of Greater Miami). When
you request that your dry cleaner use a light starch on that same
shirt, the result is a longer-lasting just-ironed look. Very
Sharp.
Dont overdo it. Too much starch can leave spots or a slick finish,
especially in darker colored fabrics. If your shirt isnt 100%
cotton (read: cheap blend), or if its a more delicate fabric
(read: expensive), starch may cause damage. The most common problem
is that starch actually builds up in the professional laundry
machines, which sometimes leads to this shiny, cardboard-like look.
This can also lead to the disintegration of fibers, resulting in
shirts that tear and wear out faster (not my Zenga!!!). Make a
point of finding a high-end cleaner to protect your investment (or
at least avoid having to buy new work shirts).
What else can you do? Check out these tips for using starch like a
pro:
Dont starch all of your clothes.
But, if you like the finished look of starch, have your cotton
shirts lightly starched every other time you take them to the
cleaners (or only during the summer, when youre likely to look
un-Sharp sooner).
Dont starch your shirts at all if you have a tendency to remove
clothing, roll it up and stuff it under the bed if these
lightweight shirts are starched, youll have to launder them again
to get the wrinkles out and this wont be easy. Instead, hang
your shirts between wearings.
Same goes for suitcases; dont starch your stuff before folding it
up for business travel the creases will show when you put the
shirt on. Instead, have the cleaners launder the shirt without
starch and then box (fold) it for easy travel.
