There is a constant misconception with men that as long as the dress shirt looks good in the package it’s worth the purchase. WRONG.

Dress shirts are usually found in a 100% cotton structure or a polyester/cotton blend. Let’s address 2 major issues with dress shirts that are 100% cotton: Shrinkage & Wrinkling.

Shrinkage- when you wash 100% cotton shirts instead of dry cleaning them they will usually shrink. And when they do they will usually be disproportionate at the waist area and therefore will cause issues when you raise your arms and your back is showing because your dress shirt has ran out of your pants. If you are concerned with amassing a high dry cleaning bill each week or month due to this, make sure you wash your shirts on the delicate cycle and remove promptly after wash. Hang the dress shirt to dry it or lightly iron it dry. Do NOT allow the shirt to sit in the washer machine, dry, and wrinkle in the process.

Wrinkling- 100% cotton shirts are notoriously difficult to get ironed after the first wash. This is another reason I would suggest dry cleaning them or avoiding them all together. It will take a much longer time to iron a 100% cotton dress shirt than it will a polyester/cotton blended dress shirt. Also once the shirt is ironed and you put it on, as soon as you take a deep breathe the 100% cotton dress shirt will usually begin to wrinkle. Annoying.

This goes for EVERY designer. It doesn’t really matter the brand when it comes to the 100% cotton vs polyester/cotton blend debate.

Remember, you’re only going to most likely get a year out of each shirt. I know designers would love to hear me say this but it’s true. Have you ever seen a shirt that looks like a bed sheet because it’s so see through on a guy? That’s an OLD shirt. You must purchase dress shirts at least yearly to avoid this and other wear and tear issues.