How to Care for Your Shirt: Our Guide

Cotton, linen, silk: each fabric has its own nature, and each calls for a different hand. From wash temperature to the touch of the iron, here are the right gestures to care for your shirts.

Because a fine shirt isn't replaced — it's kept. Chosen for how they hold and made to last, our fabrics carry through the seasons when you look after them. The care you give them is no burden: it's what, year after year, turns a white shirt into a piece you keep. And that one day, perhaps, you pass on.

The Basics 

Before we come to each fabric, a few rules hold for all three.

Don't mix colours. Wash at 30°C maximum, on a delicate programme: any hotter and the fibre shrinks, the seams tire. Choose a delicate cycle and a mild detergent; keep away from harsh products and fabric softener, which weigh the cloth down.

Forget the tumble dryer. Dry in the open air, in the shade: direct sun yellows white and dulls colour.

Iron inside out, while the shirt is still slightly damp. The iron glides better and the cloth won't take on a shine.

Faced with a stain, act quickly and rinse in cold water. Never bleach — on any of these three fabrics: it attacks the fibre and yellows it in the end. A little white vinegar or bicarbonate of soda in the wash revives white without harming it.

Store on a hanger, somewhere dry and airy, away from dust.

Cotton

The fabric of our icons. Hard-wearing, yet delicate in its own way.

Iron on a medium setting, between 160 and 180°C, shirt damp, inside out. Steam relaxes the fibres and smooths away creases.

For a stubborn stain, rub in a little Marseille soap, leave it a few minutes, rinse in cold water before washing. It's an old trick. It still works.

Linen

Wash at 30°C, delicate cycle, without overloading the drum: linen needs room to avoid sharp creases.

When ironing, medium heat, cloth damp, a pressing cloth between iron and fabric to avoid any sheen. Don't overdo it: linen's light crumple is part of its character. Chasing a perfect smoothness betrays the fabric.

Linen dreads damp in storage. Keep it dry, in a cotton garment bag if it must wait from one season to the next.

Silk 

The most delicate of all. It has to be earned.

Silk forgives no improvisation.

The safest route is the dry cleaner: professional dry cleaning preserves its hold and its lustre. If you'd rather wash it yourself, do it by hand, in cold water, with a mild soap, never wringing or rubbing. Press gently to coax out the water, then dry flat and in the shade, well away from a hot iron.