As much as you love your new shirt, you want to handle it with kid gloves. You need to know how to take care of your shirt for it to look as gorgeous as ever. Not only do well-maintained clothes add value to your personal and professional life, but they also benefit the environment by minimizing clothing disposal.

We pour our hearts into making your favorite shirts at Custom Corporate Shirts and we want you to take good care of them. If you want to maintain the professional look and feel of your shirts, get rid of the frustration of shrinkage, fading, and damage, or need proper washing and care instructions, this article is for you.

Are you staying? Let’s dive in!

Understanding your shirt’s fabric and its unique needs

The first step to taking care of your shirt properly is to understand what it is made of. Different fabrics have different properties and thus need to be handled accordingly. What works for a cotton shirt may be a recipe for disaster for a polyester one.

Therefore, it is important to consider the fabric and its unique needs before washing, drying, or ironing the shirt. Let’s discover three main shirt fabrics and how you can care for them.

• Cotton

When it comes to getting a shirt, cotton is a classic fabric. One of the many reasons is its wonderful breathability and durability. However, it shrinks and wrinkles easily. Here’s how you can take care of your cotton shirt.

How to wash and dry a cotton shirt?

When washing cotton shirts, using hot water is a recipe for disaster. It contracts the cotton fibers, leading the shirt to shrink, and also causing colors to fade.

Wash your cotton shirt with cold water in a gentle cycle to prevent fabric damage and shrinking. This preserves the original size of your shirt, maintains its vibrant hues, keeps its fibers strong, and reduces your bills.

When you’re done washing, hang dry the cotton shirt. It is better than heat drying in a dryer which causes wrinkles and shrinkage. Hang drying prevents this and allows for natural airflow through the shirt, maintaining its natural look. However, if you have to use a dryer, make sure to set it at a low temperature.

How to iron a cotton T-shirt?

Depending on the fabric type, cotton wrinkles and creases easily. Ironing can restore the crisp if done right according to the weave. Tightly woven cotton needs less ironing whereas looser weaves may need more. You can find the appropriate iron setting on the garment label as well. Using a fabric softener made for cotton shirts also prevents stubborn wrinkling.

To avoid creasing, you can consider ‘gently’ stretching the shirt in its damp condition. This will restore the shape of the shirt to some extent. 

Bonus tip: The longer cotton fibers used in our cut-and-sew custom corporate shirts make the fabric even softer and require little to no ironing.

How to treat stains on a cotton shirt?

In case of any stains, treat immediately. As a natural fiber, cotton absorbs stains quickly. So the sooner you treat it, the better. In order to pre-treat the stain, rinse the affected area with warm water and then use a mild detergent to rub it gently. This will almost always eliminate the stain.

If the stain persists, use a commercial stain remover but watch out for those with bleach. Because they will suck the color out of your shirt, leaving a light visible mark.

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• Polyester

Polyester is a wonderful man-made synthetic fiber, known for its wrinkle-resistance and fast drying. However, it is comparatively less breathable, traps sweat inside the fabric and melts under high temperatures. Let’s see how you can take care of polyester shirts.

How to wash and dry a polyester shirt?

Since polyester is naturally wrinkle-resistant, it is okay to wash with both warm and cold water in a gentle cycle using a simple detergent. While washing with cold water is all good, warm water helps remove stains better. It also prevents wrinkles and color bleeding.

One great concern while washing polyester is its tendency to pill. To avoid this, flip your shirt inside out to save the outer surface of the shirt from unwanted pilling.

After washing your polyester shirt, prefer to hang dry it as it is the best way to go. However, if you want to use a dryer, set it at a low temperature as higher temperatures may lead the polyester shirt to melt or shrink.

How to iron a polyester T-shirt?

The garment label will answer this best. Some may have no instructions regarding ironing, signaling that there might not be a need to iron the shirt. However, if there are instructions mentioned, you must adhere to them.

If there is no exact temperature setting mentioned, it is best to turn it down a notch. Setting 3 should do fine. However, you can adjust based on the outcome but don’t crank the temperature up too high to avoid accidental burning and pilling.

How to treat stains on a polyester shirt?

Being a synthetic fiber, polyester resists absorbing stains. It is easy to clean almost all types of stains from polyester except those of grease or oil. To treat these stubborn stains, use a cold power detergent and a stain remover that are not too harsh for the fabric and its color.

Then, take a clean cloth and blot the stain out of the polyester shirt as much as possible. Wash it in warm water or at the highest allowed temperature as per the label afterward.

• Blends

Blended shirts are made by combining two or more types of fabrics, mostly cotton and polyester. These blends could be with any other fabrics such as wool or silk. As each type of fabric has unique needs, figuring out how to treat a blend can be tricky. But here’s the simple answer.

The specific care needs depend upon the blend ratio. Check the garment label to know which fabric has been used in a higher ratio. Follow the care instructions such as washing, drying, and ironing based on the dominant fabric content.

For instance, your shirt is made using 70% cotton and 30% polyester. Since cotton is dominant here, you are going to treat your shirt like a cotton one. If let’s say, your shirt is a 50/50 blend of cotton and polyester, the combined properties of both fabrics will respond best to being washed in warm water and hang-dried or low-heat tumble-dried.

Lastly, if the blend contains some percentage of wool or silk, you should treat the fabric like wool or silk even if they are in a lower concentration than the other content. The best is to adhere to the label instructions for such garments.

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Additional Tips - How to take care of your shirts

In addition to the above, here are some additional tips to keep your shirts all tidy.

• Wash your shirts less and only when needed. 
• Never wash dark or dyed shirts with light ones.
• Flip your shirts inside out for washing, drying, and ironing.
• Prefer to airdry your shirts in shade and not in direct sunlight to prevent color fading.
• Refer to the shirt label or tag for clear instructions.
• Use detergents or solutions that are not too harsh for your shirts and the environment.
• Prefer to fold your shirts instead of hanging them in the closet for a long time to avoid unnecessary stretching and loosening of the fabric.

What do symbols on the care labels mean?

Care labels are tags with care instructions for the garment. They are permanently attached, usually sewn into the garment inside the back of the neckline or across the hem.

Here’s a comprehensive guide on how to read the care labels on your garments so you can treat them properly: 

• Circle

A small circle on the tag indicates that the garment must be dry-cleaned. The letter inside the circle guides what chemical should be used. The number of bars underneath the circle suggests the precaution level for the dry cleaner and a cross over the circle means no dry-cleaning.

• Iron symbol

The iron iron symbol tells the ironing instructions. If dots inside the iron indicate the intensity of temperature applicable. No dots suggest that you can adjust the temperature as it works. A cross over the symbol means the item should not be ironed.

• A circle inside a box

This symbol indicates tumble-drying. The number of dots inside the circle specifies the intensity of temperature applicable whereas a cross over it means no tumble-drying.

• A tub with a hand

This symbol allows for handwashing the garment in a gentle washing cycle at a low temperature.

• A twisted symbol

This symbol looks like a twist-tie wrapper and means that you can wring or squeeze the item to remove liquid from it. A cross symbol over the twist suggests otherwise.

• A tub symbol

The tub symbol points towards machine washing the item. The number on the tub specifies the maximum applicable temperature whereas the bars underneath mean the following:

• 1 bar: Reduced spin cycle.
• 2 bars: Gentle wash with normal rinse and spin cycle.
• No bar: Normal rinse and spin cycle.

A cross over the tub symbol means you should not machine-wash the item.

• Triangle

A triangle on the care label allows you to bleach the item when needed. Two lines inside the triangle indicate the use of non-chlorine bleach only whereas a cross symbol over the triangle means you should not bleach the item.

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Conclusion

Clothes are an essential part of our lives and caring for them is important. While it is no rocket science, understanding your shirt’s fabric and treating it accordingly will help you keep it for longer. So, we put love in the making, you put love in the caring. After all, it is good for your wallet, good for the planet.