The secret life of your clothes

I mentioned a couple of months ago that I would write a post about what your clothing goes through before you own it, and today is the day. I’ll be covering the little-known chemical finishes used in textile manufacture, and why your pockets and vents are sewn shut when you buy them, in the hopes that you will take heed and prepare your clothing before you wear it out in public – it’s all about a polished image and more than that, it can be a matter of your health!

Why are my pockets sewn shut?

Clip the stitching from your breast pocket if you like a pocket square in your breast pocket.

When you buy a new suit, sports jacket, or outdoor coat, you may notice that your pockets are not working because they’re sewn shut. This goes for coat pockets and breast pockets on the outside of the garment. Pockets are sewn shut for a few reasons. First, sewn and secured pockets are easily pressed and won’t be pulled out of shape when they are shipped from their country of origin. Second, flat pockets will look nice and smooth when on display at retail stores and retain their shape when people try them on.

Pockets are meant to be functional. When you purchase the items, your tailor or retailer might remove the stitching for you, but if not, snip out the threads that hold your pockets together on your own if you’re going to use them. Some men won’t remove the stitching from their outside suit pockets because they know they won’t be using them (perhaps the inside pockets of their jackets will suffice), and this leaves the front of the coat smooth and intact.

For men who like to have extra space for light pieces (hankies, business cards, or lip balm), the pocket stitching should be removed so they can be used. (Tip – try not to carry heavy or bulky articles in the outside pockets of your suits and sports jackets or the bulk will pull them out of shape and you may look somewhat disheveled – not a good look.)

The breast pocket is used for pocket squares, so if you wear these to polish and punctuate your jackets, open this pocket. If not, leave it.

Why are my vents sewn shut?

X stitching on jacket vents are meant to be clipped.

A vent is a slit up the back seams of your coat, breaking the hem for ease of movement. There can be a single vent at the bottom of the centre back seam, or two vents off of the back side seams. Opening your vents will give you more space to put your hands into your pockets and will allow you to sit comfortably because there won’t be anything pulling across your hips.

You may notice an X stitched over your coat vents before you buy it. This is done prior to shipping to keep the coats flat and smooth, and may be found on your sport coats, suit jackets, and topcoats. This stitching should be clipped and removed. If it is not removed, it looks odd, unprofessional, and some may say, naive, so open ‘er up, give yourself some space, and be confident that you look good and proper in your clothes!

Formaldehyde

Textiles, even those of natural origin, go through a tremendous amount of chemical treatment. You may be surprised to learn that the most common chemical resin used in textile production is formaldehyde and you’re probably surrounded by it right now.

“Textile formaldehyde resins have been used on fabrics since the mid 1920’s by the textiles industry to make wrinkle and stain resistant garments (e.g. permanent press),” says Allergy, Sensitivity & Environmental Health Association Qld Inc. (ASEHA). (Read their excellent article on this topic here.)

Looking at urea-formaldehyde, the type used in textiles, it has excellent tensile strength and low water absorption due to it being a thermoplastic resin. Materials most likely to have been treated with formaldehyde resins are:

• Rayon
• Blended cotton (i.e. polyester-cotton)
• Corduroy
• Wrinkle-resistant 100% cotton
• Shrink-proof wool (“superwash” wool)
• Any synthetic blended polymer (i.e. rayon, polyester-cotton)
• Heavy stiff fabrics
• Upholstery and craft materials

Though good, strong, and easy care, wearing formaldehyde-treated fabrics next to our skin is not necessarily a good thing, especially for those with chemical sensitivities. Luckily, some materials are not treated with formaldehyde and should not affect the sensitive. One way to recognize the absence of formaldehyde is to look for soft fabrics that will hold the wrinkles when scrunched in your hand. As listed on the ASEHA site, some fabrics not treated with formaldehyde resins are: 100% silk, 100% linen (if it wrinkles easily), 100% polyester, 100% acrylic, 100% nylon, Spandex, flannel (if soft), denim, and wool.

Remember, formaldehyde is an “anti” treatment – anti-wrinkle, anti-stain, anti-static, etc. These easy care finishes are not natural and are achieved through chemical treatment. Often, they are permanent and can cause allergic reactions in some people.

“Washing new formaldehyde resin treated clothing may reduce the levels of free formaldehyde but is not sufficient to prevent a textile resin reaction in a previously sensitized patient. Multiple washes combined with airing in the sun may reduce levels further but remember the manufacturers put in a lot of work into making these finishes ‘permanent’,” says ASEHA.

Though we know that some of the chemical finishes are not going to wash out, I always like to wash my new stuff just the same before I wear it. With any luck, the “new clothes” smell will wash out and the garment may loosen up by removing some of the undoubtedly chemical “filler”, especially if it is an inexpensive garment. (Though if it is really inexpensive, washing out the fillers will reduce the garment to a rag because that was almost all it was made up of, hence the low price you paid for it.)

When I think of formaldehyde, I think of embalming. (Believe it or not, I used to date an embalmer who explained his use of a huge syringe to suck out body fluids of the corpse, then another needle the same size to inject the formaldehyde into the body.) I found out an interesting tidbit about the embalming process during research: if the lungs of an embalmed body float after being immersed in the formaldehyde solution, “then a mortician concludes that the deceased was breathing while he passed away. If they do not float then the person was not breathing.” (Source)

Formaldehyde is all around us and apart from its use in the textiles industry, it is used as a disinfectant, in darkroom photography, as a foam insulator, fertilizer, and in wood products. I also found out that formaldehyde and sulfuric acid is used to create Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), also known as club drug, extacy, and formaldehyde is also used in drugs to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Formaldehyde is a finish that doesn’t make us work as hard (e.g. anti-wrinkle = less time ironing) but as with most blessings, there often lurks a curse.

Health problems

The thing about formaldehyde is that it is a chemical that is used liberally in manufacturing and there do not seem to be strong enforceable guidelines or rules on its use (though Japan seems to be the most compliant to standards). To some people, formaldehyde can be toxic. People prone to Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS) are often affected by chemical treatments of fabrics, and are believed to be of a physiology weakened by overexposure to chemical toxins.

These people may experience conditions including dermatitis, headache, trouble concentrating, memory problems, nausea, diarrhea, fatigue, muscle and joint pain, dizziness, difficulty breathing, irregular heart beat, and seizures that range from mild to life-threatening.

ASEHA cited a study that found an incidence rate of 10% in men and 5% in women for formaldehyde allergy, and that more men cross-reacted to formaldehyde textile resins.

So if we can’t wash it out of our clothes and this nasty chemical is everywhere, what are we to do? The Organic Lifestyle site urges us to wear more natural fiber clothing that has been organically grown and manufactured like organic help, cotton, bamboo, and wools. The site believes that manufacturing phases are critical to producing healthy clothing, and without chemical finishes on our textiles, there may be a greater health in society in general.

The textile industry is well known to use heavy chemical treatments in production, and I for one am not too jazzed about this. However, with education comes understanding and change, and hopefully we’re moving toward clothing closer to the natural materials (the US is now developing low or non-formaldehyde finishes). Rome wasn’t built in a day, gents, so take baby steps and maybe over time we can get to a chemical-free closet. We have to start by asking for it.

Seasonal dressing

It’s September 1st and the bus is taking a turn down Autumn Avenue.  Toronto has had an excruciatingly hot summer this year and I for one welcome the change in season. It’s almost time to get out the woolens, add a blanket to the bed, put on a sweater in the evening, and pull on a pair of socks.

Canadians live through complex seasonal changes and our weather goes to extremes.  Canadians have seasonal wardrobes appropriate to each season, but some of us go to extremes in our dressing during transition seasons (spring, fall) – i.e. people who wear shorts on a “warm” day in March, flip-flops in November (if there isn’t any snow), or overdress in August because they’re longing for a change in temperature or perhaps a change in wardrobe. I’m not big on stripping down before the warm weather hits, but by the end of the summer, I am more than ready to change my light wardrobe to pieces more substantial and cozy.

The people who like to go to the extremes explained above and dress out-of-season look odd. At least they do to me. Why? 1) Wearing the bright colours of spring’s new growth in winter stands out and feels weird, and wearing winter’s dark, subdued colours that reflect the limited light feels weird to wear in the spring, and 2) the weight and fabric of their out-of-season garments are not suited to the temperatures – wearer will be too cold or too hot and they stand apart, but not in a particularly good way.

My goal today is to educate you gentlemen about seasonal dressing as we turn and face the fall this week, so that YOU don’t look odd.

Colour

A high energy spring/summer colour and a low-key fall/winter colour in my palette.

Let the colours of nature guide you through seasonal dressing. In the longer days of spring, bright colours are appropriate, mimicking the flowers, green grass, brightly coloured birds, and general freshness of the season. During the fall, we like to wear the mustards, browns, oranges, and rusts of the foliage around us and later, darker hues that echo the lack of light in winter. The design and retail industries understand this and cater to our need to feel comfortable in clothes suited for seasonal elements, and our desire to change with the seasons.

I’m warm and spring-coloured and find it hard to find good pieces in good colours during the winter, so during the dim season, I force myself to succumb to the darkness of my palette (cinnamons, navies, and candy colours like caramel and chocolate). Secretly though, I’m dying to trade in my brown mohair dress in for a hyacinth-coloured knitted wool dress, but I’ve never seen one. That’s because the clothing industry follows the seasonal colour changes; spring-coloured wool garments are hard to come by for the same reason you can’t find a turquoise sports jacket in winter. Perhaps because it’s natural or perhaps because we’ve been conditioned by the clothing industry to accept this colour practice, I know that even if I could find a hyacinth-coloured mohair dress, I would feel weird wearing it during the winter due to its brightness.

True spring colours are high-frequency, highly active colours that seem to take up a lot of space. A large piece like a dress in hyacinth would really stand out and practically vibrate in winter, but not in spring. Similarly, the often-seen sidewalk greys, blacks, and other drabs of winter look so hard to me in spring; without life and ill-matched to the environment. That’s why wearing out-of-season colours look odd to me. Take this chance to observe the people who try to pull this off and see what you think.

Weight

As with the colour cycle, fabrics change through the year. During the warmer months, we wear light fabrics that will keep us cool like cottons and linens, but during the fall and winter, we reach for richer, heavier fabrics to keep us dry and warm. With the exception of cruise wear that hits the racks early in the New Year, we won’t find lightweight cottons and absolutely no linens during the winter, because they just aren’t practical, as in, you’d freeze wearing them in the wrong season. Similarly, you would not find heavy woolen clothing in spring because that isn’t practical either. And you’d look weird. You might even feel weird too.

This gives Canadians two distinct wardrobes for our whole lives, and this can take up space and cost a lot of money, but sometimes we get a break. In this case, we’ve been blessed with animals who provide their hair so we can use their fleece to clothe ourselves and keep us warm. Wool is the most varied and versatile fibers on the planet and can be worn in all seasons  - yes! even summer.

Angora goats provide mohair wool.

Wool comes from sheep (Shetland, Merino), rabbits (Angora), goats (cashmere, mohair), camels, and llama-like alpacas, giving wool of different textures and differing degrees of warmth.

“The degree of thickness determines whether the finished fabric will be a fine dress material or a coarse floor covering,” says the Canadian Sheep Federation. The thickness of the fibers and the weave of the resulting fabric can produce extremely varied wools, some spun so fine that they might be mistook for cotton!

Important concepts in wool

There are some basics to understand when shopping for wool suits, trousers, coats, or jackets:

TWIST – Yarns are twisted to bind the fibers together and strengthen the yarn. With a tighter yarn twist, the harder-wearing the fabric, and the less likely to pill (rogue fibers that are not twisted into the yarn will tangle on the surface of the garment and create a pill, or a fuzzy ball). Also, the higher the twist, the higher the price – one must pay for quality, you know.

WORSTED – Worsted wool is made of even, equal length combed wool fibers that are spun into smooth, firmly twisted yarn or threads. Worsted wool is high quality and will often cost more than a carded wool due to the extra processes that give the yarns a high twist and a longer wearing garment.

WOOLEN – Wool that is carded, that is, worked though with instruments to smooth the fibers and clean vegetable matter from the fleece, varies in length and is looser, bulkier, and less regular than worsted wools. Soft garments like sweaters and other knits are made of carded wool.

Types of wool: worsted 

Wool gabardine featuring a twill weave.

Good suits and trousers are made of fine wools, often worsted, and some can be worn all year around (called all-weather wool). Suits made of all-weather wool are great investments because they’re so versatile (though I advise to keep a pair of long johns close by on cold winter days!).

GABARDINE is a fine worsted wool fabric with a twill weave, giving it a cross-wise raised texture. Wool Gabardine is a tightly woven fabric that is lightweight and often has a natural luster. Gabardine is strong, wears and drapes well, and resists wrinkling. A good wool choice for the spring and summer.

Examples of sharkskin fabric swatches.

SHARKSKIN is a smooth-textured fine wool worsted fabric with a high twist and a bit of a sheen, resembling the skin of a shark. It has a two-toned appearance because a white thread is woven with a coloured thread to produce this effect. Sharkskin is lightweight and hard-wearing. Another good wool choice for warm weather.

Types of wool: woolen

Harris Tweed in a heather-coloured herringbone pattern.

TWEED is an example of woolen fabric for gent’s coats, jackets, suits, trousers, waistcoats, and outer/sportswear. This rough, unfinished wool fabric is flexible and soft to the touch (but not meant to be worn next to the skin). Tweed is often woven into subdued “heather” colour blends, herringbone, houndstooth, or check patterns.

The most famous tweed is Harris Tweed, hand-spun and woven on the island of Harris, in the Scottish Isles. The cloth was created about 150 years ago by Harris islanders and to this day is spun and woven by hand, as far as I can make out.  Have a look at the Harris Tweed website and watch the short, charming video about the history of the fabric.

If you’ve taken this post to heart, you’ll understand the logic of seasonal dressing in terms of weight and colour:  generally, light-coloured, light weight fabrics for warm weather and dark-coloured, heavy fabrics for cool weather, with the exception of all-weather wool garments which can be worn any time. My advice is to check the weather daily and find the most comfortable and appropriate clothing for it.

PS - While I was publishing image inc., Canada’s first image quarterly for men, I did a textile series on natural fibers – you may find the wool issue of interest.

Your feet in summer

People seem to think that just because it’s hot outside, they have license to dress like a slob and slack off on grooming. Do you see ratty old t-shirts walking around in public? Have you ever had the misfortune of being downwind from someone who has slacked off on bathing? How about people who interpret “summer business casual” being the same thing as “cottage wear”?

Run on us, jump on us, but don't forget to clean us!

There are guys out there who wear sandals or flip-flops and whether unconsciously or perhaps out of spite, show off their filthy toes. We don’t want to see this and in fact, it’s a bone of contention with me. There is no reason not to have clean feet and this week, lads, we’ll discuss the state of your feet and how to make them not only nicer to look at, but nicer to live with. Allow me to pass on some easy and practical tips on keeping your feet neat, how to wear summer footwear, and how to tend to summer foot ailments.

Don’t be lazy – pay attention to your feet

I had a boyfriend once who never washed his feet. He insisted that the water and soap lather used to clean the top of his body was enough to clean his feet as it ran over them. The concept of cleaning in between his toes with lather was somehow preposterous, so he never did.

I’m not sure that I ever actually saw his feet; they were in beaten up Blundstones or wool socks most of the time, but if I had seen his feet, or the way I imagined his feet would have looked without cleaning between his toes for an extended period of time, I’m not sure that I could have lived with it – women are more sensitive to things like this, I find.

Anyway, the point is, please make an effort while you’re in the shower to bend over and clean the top and bottom of the whole foot, then clean between your toes, otherwise the infamous toe jam begins to collect. Toe jam, the ” grey-brown shit that accumulates between your toes. Primarily composed of dead skin cells, sock fluff and sweat.” (Urban Dictionary).

Dirty feet and the smell of dirty feet is not welcoming to anyone so please take the time to bathe and groom your feet, using the following tips to get you there:

A nail brush is an excellent grooming tool any time of year.

TIP #1: Go to the drugstore and buy a nail brush or a brush with a handle. Soap it up and give your feet a good going over  - the brush, soap, water, and friction, cleans your feet, cleans under your toenails, sloughs off dead skin cells on the surface of your feet, and it feels good! Lean against the wall, hold your foot up and do it standing up, or sit on the tub floor and reach to clean – mind, there may be some flexibility needed for this method.

TIP #2: Regularly trim your toenails with a toenail clipper – they’re wider than fingernail clippers and easier to handle.

TIP #3: Sand, yes, I said sand your heels to file down your callouses. Soak, smooth down the hard skin, and follow with a moisturizer. You could use a pumice stone or find a paddle with an actual piece of sandpaper on it – the Body Shop used to make these but they don’t seem to carry them anymore. Check the drugstore or specialty spas for items mentioned here.

TIP #4: A clean foot will not make a filthy flip-flop look better. Scrub both sides of your rubber or plastic flip-flops  (with your new nail brush if you want to) and get all of the crap out from the treads and surface texture. Do one at a time and compare – which one would you rather be seen in? Which one makes you feel better?

Summer socks 

Nothing looks more uncomfortable than a guy in shorts with mid-length calf socks on, especially if they’re dress socks. Different socks for different reasons, lads: dress socks are for dress wear (i.e. suits), and for summer, should be made of  cotton to keep the foot cool by wicking away perspiration.

Wearing ankle socks make fools look cool.

Athletic socks (usually white) are worn at the gym or with sporty clothes and convey a youthful, energetic message, but don’t really work with casual looks if you’re not wearing gym shoes, and this includes shorts.

So what kind of sock to wear with shorts and a casual shoe to avoid looking like a dork? Men’s shorty socks, of course, also known as ankle socks or low-rise socks. They really make a tremendously cool difference. Also, because you’ll only see a whisper of them outside of your shoe, it may not matter what colour they are = less to think about/easy.

Blisters

With heat comes sweat. Each of our feet contain 250,000 sweat glands. Any kind of friction on moist skin will case discomfort, wear at the skin, and maybe cause a blister. These are terrible and painful and can get infected if we don’t keep them clean.

TIP #5: To keep your foot drier and reduce friction on the foot, sprinkle powder on your foot after the shower to better absorb moisture – i.e. baby powder or Gold Bond powder.

Be aware of your foot in new seasonal footwear and be mindful of pressure and anything rubbing on your foot – this is where blisters and corns are born. There are lots of ways to remedy chafe, pressure, and blisters (before they start) like adhesive bandages, blister pads, and moleskin.

Moleskin pads give comfort to blistered feet.

Moleskin? Not the real skin of moles of course, but a heavy, densely-woven cotton fabric that is sheared on one side to give a short pile, mimicking the skin of a mole. It is very durable and soft, used to make clothing (it’s windproof you know) or adhesive pads used inside of dance shoes or over blisters.

TIP #6: The moleskin is used much like an adhesive bandage roll, cut to the size you need and applied over the blister – good info here on this hiking website about how to prevent foot blisters.

Think of your foot as the state of your shoe – polished and well-kept, it reads respect – self and otherwise. I hope that makes your summer a little more comfortable and a little more stylish, fellas. Best wishes!

Tyvek, a decades-old textile you’ve never heard of

I took a stroll along Danforth Avenue last week and popped into a cute little gift shop to buy the leopard print umbrella in the window. As I wandered around the store, I spied an extremely cool men’s accessory that prompted this week’s post. Gents, this week I bring you tales of an old, largely unknown textile that has many uses,  a little number called Tyvek.

What the feck is Tyvek?

Look for "Tyvek" on the white sheet surrounding buildings under construction.

Tyvek is a durable, lightweight synthetic textile created by DuPont in 1955. It is a highly breathable, water-resistant material made of high-density polyethylene fibres that water vapor can pass through. It’s a material that may sound foreign to you, but I’m willing to bet you’ve already experienced it in some form or another.

Tyvek is used for products like courier and mailing envelopes, car covers, protective clothing, labels, wristbands, graphics, packaging, and house wrap, used in construction as “a weather-resistant barrier… [to] combat water, moisture and air infiltration that are any structure’s worst enemies. Allowed to penetrate behind siding, wind-driven rain and moisture can saturate walls, creating a breeding ground for mould, mildew and wood rot. The properties of DuPont™ Tyvek® do not support the growth of mould or mildew” (from the DuPont website).

How Tyvek is like felted wool

Polyethylene fibres of Tyvek

I reckon that Tyvek is the chemical alternative to felt in that it is made in a similar way. Felt is made of wool fibres compressed with pressure and heat and made into a usable textile. Similarly, Tyvek is made by the same process but with polyethylene fibres. To bring the fibres to a near-inpenetratable bond, Tyvek is created through a process called Spunbonding – polyethylene  filament is extruded through a spinneret, then heat is applied to fuse the fibres together. Neither felt nor Tyvek is woven – felted wool is not very strong and can be pulled apart, but Tyvek cannot be ripped or torn – it is virtually indestructible unless you take a blade to it and slice it up.

Can you recycle it?

I certainly hope so. It’s made of petrochemicals and it will be around longer than I will be so I think it’s a good idea to be able to deal with it responsibly. I started looking around and the information I found on the web complained of recycling with DuPont only if you were hip to shelling out for postage, but these sites are a few years old and the DuPont website insists that users can order their Waste Management Recycle Kit that comes with a prepaid return envelope.

Sounds great, but you have to pay $15 to order the kit. If you’re a conscious consumer and like to take environmental responsibility for products you use, you just might order the kit because $15 won’t break the bank and you can send back up to 250 square feet of Tyvek products – a good move for busy offices. Interested? Find out about the DuPont kit here.

Wearing Tyvek

Tyvek can also be made into clothing. Tyvek is used for protective clothing for people who might work with hazardous materials and chemicals, but did you know that those thin, blue hospital  shoe coverings are also made of Tyvek?

During the 80s, people gave Tyvek clothing a go, but it didn’t really pan out: somewhere around 1987 or 88, I was working in the Eaton’s casual menswear department at the same time the Beach Boys were making a comeback of some sort. One summer day while unpacking the stock for the Regina SK store as selected by Toronto ON buyers,  I pulled out six blue bomber-style jackets with ribbed cuffs and waistbands out of Tyvek with Beach Boys graphics all over them. Hard on the eyes and in a foreign, soft papery-plastic material that just felt plain weird, these jackets didn’t go over very well and I think I remember almost having to give those suckers away at the end of the season clearance.

I think Tyvek has to find the right people and the right people have to find Tyvek. In the late 1970s, this age of plastic material found its soul mate. New Wave syth-geek band, Devo, moved on stage like robots in their notorious two piece Tyvek suits topped by those kooky, stepped red hats. No one else could have pulled it off.

(For anyone interested, I found a concert video of Pearl Jam performing Whip It in full-on Devo costume!)

A super cool Tyvek accessory 

Devo immortalized in a Tyvek Dynomighty wallet

What caught my attention in the store were the most fun, lightweight, indestructible, $15 hipster wallets made of Tyvek by Dynomighty. These wallets have no glue or thread to hold them together – they’re folded. And they expand to cater to all of the crap that you know you’re going to stuff in there and you can keep on cramming because the textile won’t rip. Bonus!

You’ll have a hard time choosing a favourite with so many graphics available – will it be the map of the London Underground? The Campbell’s soup cans? The U.S.S. Enterprise? The sheet music? Or the Fonz? If you’re in Toronto, you can find Dynomighty wallets live an in person at Drysdale & Co. on the south side of Danforth and Broadview or online and global at drysdaleandco.com.

Another cool feature of the Dynomighty wallet is that it is recyclable, or at least that’s what their product videos say. This is a great website that discusses the wallets from a responsible ecological point of view and features the Dynomighty wallet video for your information.

All-purpose clothing maintenance

This week, I’d like to give you fellas some very simple and very do-able image-enhancing tips on keeping your basics nice and neat to give you a polished look.  Ready? Here we go!

Basics for ties 

Ties are cut on the bias of silk, meaning that they are cut on the diagonal instead of the straight of the grain, like most garments are. This method of cutting gives an elasticity to the fabric, useful in the tying of the ties but making the tie different in maintenance than other garments. When ties wrinkle, they’re not meant to be ironed. Instead, the bias-cut of the fabric allows the weight of the weave to lie differently and because  of this, wrinkles are easily smoothed by rolling them instead of hanging them up. Try storing them rolled on a flat surface like in a drawer.

Are you the kind of guy that isn’t comfortable tying ties and you leave your ties knotted for the next wear? I have some sympathy for you knot-challenged fellas but remember that a proper gent will knot a fresh tie each day, so try to learn how to do at least one basic knot (i.e. the four-in-hand). Once you have this mastered, you can move onto the Half Windsor and if you want to get really fancy, try the Full Windsor. Tie knots may seem intimidating at first, but with practice, will become habit. Google “tie knots” and find the right illustration or video for you to follow – there are lots to choose from.

Keep your shirts in shape

When hanging your shirts up on hangers, button the top button to keep the collar band in shape.

I’m always telling my clients that they can extend the life of their shirts if they keep the collar in shape. To do this, simply button up the top button on the shirt, found on what is called the collar band. Sandwiched in between the back and front fabric of the collar and the collar band is the fusing/interfacing which gives shape and body to the collar pieces. Doing up the top button will keep your collars stiff, round, and in good shape.

Dry clean only trousers

If you’re a fan of wool pants, you’ll notice the “dry clean only” symbol on the washing tag. I know that especially for you bachelors, dry cleaning is a godsend, but do be aware that the dry cleaning process is hard on humans and the environment as it uses highly flammable chemical solvents to get your clothes clean. Dry cleaning can also get expensive.

Dry clean symbol

An alternative to dry cleaning is wet cleaning or environmental cleaning which many dry cleaners offer, easier on the earth but a method that will still cost you – check some good dry cleaning alternatives link here.

I’ve got a couple of tricks for you to help you stretch from cleaning to cleaning:

• Hang your trousers outside to air them out and freshen them up;
• If your trousers are already creased, run a not-too-hot steam iron over them to crisp the crease and don’t be afraid to press the hem or cuffs, and steam out the thigh and knee creases created from sitting in the trousers. A good shot of steam should help the fabric recover its shape some.

Washers and dryers: sock’s natural enemy 

Losing a sock during the laundering process is frustrating. I’ve observed enough sock behaviour over time to understand that socks may actually reappear if you have patience: 

• Check around the washing machine – sometimes they fall out as we stuff clothes into the washer;
• Look for them in the pockets of your fitted sheets;
• If you used the dryer, check inside of clothes – static might be holding your sock in something else;
• If it’s an athletic sock you’re missing, look in your gym bag.

If you lost a sock and you’ve done the above suggestions and it’s been a few loads since you lost the original, chances are it’s gone, in which case, the one left over should be tossed – i.e. leaving the lone sock around is a temptation to wear it with another lone sock when you run out of laundry. Try to avoid this – it won’t do you any favours. For more sock info, please read Sock schlock.

Polish your shoes 

One of the easiest ways to sharpen your visual image is to keep your shoes polished – a shiny shoe will make better the outfit you threw together because you woke up late for work, and a dirty, worn shoe will betray the outfit that you so carefully put together.

The simplest solution to keeping your shoes clean and polished is to keep polish, brushes, sponges, and protective sprays next to the space where you store your shoes. This way, all you have to do is reach for what you need and get the job done right then and there!

To keep it simple and to get a fast and easy shine, I suggest the KIWI Express Shine Sponge – buy two and keep one at home near your dress shoes, and in your desk at the office. Check out the info here.

Silk, revisited

As a fabric junkie, I did a textile series a couple of years ago for my men’s image quarterly, image inc., discussing natural fibers including silk. I shared some information about the textile including its history, care, and uses (read it here). I work with silk all of the time when I’m putting men’s wardrobes together, gathering silk ties and silk hankies, and sometimes silk boxers and silk shirts for my clients.

I know the difference between wild or Peace silk and Mulberry silk, that silk is strong, light weight, and that perspiration and light can damage it. There are dozens of types silk textiles from the lightest chiffons to fantastic silk brocades, smooth Crepe de Chine, super soft sand-washed silk, ribbed Ottoman silk, watered or Moire silk, and soft, raw Tussah silk, to name a few, but I never imagined that silk had uses beyond clothing and home furnishings until I watched a recently released TED talk about the textile.

Professor Fiorenzo Omenetto, of the Biomedical Engineering department at Tufts University, has discovered amazing ways to use silk in our everyday lives. Quoting from the talk, Dr. Omenetto calls silk  ”a new old material that could profoundly impact high-technology, material science, medicine, and global health.”

Bombyx mori moth

Silk is produced by Bombyx mori caterpillars that feed on mulberry leaves and spin a liquid protein cocoon that hardens into filament. For commercial production, the silk cocoons are collected and put through a degumming wash, then reeled off, unbroken, in one string that can reach up to 1.5 kilometers!

Through reverse engineering of the spun cocoon into water and protein, Dr. Omenetto has a strong, sustainable, and biodegradable starting material. From this liquid silk solution, he creates a film from the protein so that the silk “can assume more and diverse material formats” to make all sorts of things from coffee cups to medical equipment.

Silk products Silk is extremely versatile and science uses the fibre to make microlenses, optical components, reflectors, and even holograms! The pure protein goes beyond optics, as Dr. Omenetto explains in the TED talk, and can be used as a working material for alternative mechanical parts like gears (that can work underwater) and nuts and bolts. Medically, silk can be made into small vein and bone replacements, flexible implants, and micro needles. Dr. Omenetto even suggests an alternative to ink tattoos in the form of LED silk tattoos that I’m sure are less irritatingly painful as the traditional needle and ink method.

Vegan issues and vegetarian benefits I usually eat a vegan diet (vegan = no animal products at all, including dairy products and eggs) but I’m not a hard-line vegan. Some vegans are very strict in their diet and their lifestyle and have issues with the silk trade because after the cocoon harvest, the pupae are killed with heat so that the cocoon remains whole and the silk can be unreeled in one thread. A super vegan would take issue here because the animals die in order to retain an unbroken cocoon, but as a vegan alternative to this silk, Peace or raw silk made by wild moths who break out of the cocoons, leave a broken cocoon that cannot be unspun in one thread like cultivated silk, so the silk is woven into a duller, nubbier textile. From the TED program, it seems that Dr. Omenetto’s work uses the cultivated cocoons, so for a vegan, there could be ethical issues that arise from this research.*

Albeit the scores of moth pupae that are steamed to death, vegetarians (different than vegans – vegetarians might take dairy and eggs) will undoubtedly delight in taking silk capsules filled with medicine (i.e. penicillin), vitamins, and oils (i.e. flax oil) as an alternative to gelatin capsules  (gelatin is derived from collagen, a natural protein present in the tendons, ligaments, and tissues of mammals; it is produced by boiling connective tissues, bones and skins of animals, usually cows and pigs (source) - think of this when you reach for a bowl of Jello or toast your next marshmallow – both of these products contain gelatin).

Silk regenerates Dr. Omenetto’s work reveals the reintegration of silk into the human body and the effects on the environment. Not only does silk regenerate in living tissue, silk products can be used for replacement veins and bones, the reinvention of silk as a sustainable packaging material could have enormous environmental benefits. Drinking coffee from a silk cup for example, will greatly lighten the load in landfills because it is biodegradable (“you can throw it away without guilt,” as the doctor says). Though Dr. Omenetto doesn’t recommend it, silk is edible and can be used as smart food packaging, relieving us from plastic packaging materials.

It is amazing to me that from a humble moth comes an enormous amount of beautiful textiles and now sustainable products that will make the world less toxic and put people in better health. What a wonderful 5000-year old gift!

*UPDATE: Dr. Omenetto has informed me that he and his team are working on having the silk spun in such a way that the silkworm is not harmed, so we’re moving toward a win-win-win situation!