May 20, 2021Gagliardi

Hi Tech, Low Maintenance Shirts

We don’t just make beautifully tailored clothes, no. We make clothes that are easy to wear and easy to care for.

Shirts that are non-iron, are great for when you’re out all day as they don’t crease. Business dinner after work? Date? Family event? A crisp non-iron shirt and a quick accessory switch will do the trick. They also come in handy when traveling, for pleasure or for business. They come out of your case ready to put on and you are guaranteed to look good for the whole day, no matter what mischief you get up to.

This essentially means you don’t need to buy separate shirts for work and play. Your shirts will look as if new after each wash so you can wear your favourite to work and also to a wedding.

So that’s the math, here comes the science bit.

The technology of fabrics is really quite fascinating. Your mum/wife/girlfriend/sister will be impressed if you spout this.

Creasing is caused by a combination of pressure and moisture – which is why steam ironing reverses creasing.

Cotton is mostly cellulose, which is a complex polymer made from many carbon and oxygen atoms held together with hydrogen atoms. Water is made from oxygen and hydrogen.

When it comes into contact with cellulose, the hydrogen in the water can displace some of the hydrogen in the cellulose, weakening the bonds between the atoms so that when pressure is applied they can form new bonds in a different direction – a crease if formed. Do keep up.

We treat our non-iron cotton fabric with liquid ammonia. Ammonia is made from nitrogen and hydrogen. When we treat cotton fabric with liquid ammonia, the hydrogen in the ammonia reacts with the natural cellulose (called Cellulose i) to form a new type or polymer of cellulose which has more hydrogen bonds between atoms (called Cellulose iii).

(The little blue lines are the extra hydrogen bonds cause by the ammonia treatment)

This means that when the fabric comes into contact with water, there fewer “unattached” atoms for the hydrogen in the water to interfere with – the water has less opportunities to do its creasy business.

What this means for the wearer is that shirts are less creased after washing, and so require less or no ironing and that in wear, when exposed to moisture (perspiration) and pressure (movement) they are less likely to crease.

All this to make you spend less effort to care for your shirts and stay looking smarter longer and all without sacrificing the softness and breathability of 100% cotton. So buy wisely knowing that your investment in your wardrobe comes with a low maintenance future.