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Home/ Knowledge/Dress shirts: laundry or dry cleaning?

Dress shirts: laundry or dry cleaning?

Why most dress shirts go through a starch-and-press laundry process — not the dry cleaning machine.

Most cotton dress shirts are not dry cleaned. They go through a laundering process: washed in water, finished with starch if requested, and pressed by hand or on a shirt press. Water cleans cotton better than solvent does, and the press gives the collar and cuffs the crisp finish.

Linen, silk, or specialty blend shirts often go to dry cleaning instead, because water can shrink linen or distort silk weave.

At Joy you can request your preferred starch level (none, light, medium, or heavy) and folded or on a hanger.

◆ Common questions

Related questions, answered.

What does 'starch' actually do?

Starch coats the cotton fibers so the shirt holds a sharp press. Light starch is barely there; heavy starch is stiff like a tuxedo shirt. Most people land somewhere in between.

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