Hey, you! Did you just get your dress shirt back from the cleaners only to find that its collars are curling up like the the tip of Dilbert’s tie?
Dilbert (character) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Rather than trying to figure out how/why it happens I’d like to propose a simple, affordable solution: collar stays.
My personal recommendation is this Box of 50 Plastic Collar Stays from Quality Stays. It comes with the following assortment of collar stays:
- 12 – 2 inch long stays
- 24 – 2.5 inch long stays
- 14 – 3 inch long stays
I’ve had my box of stays for nearly two years and they appear to be holding up well. If you want to spend a bit more you can get them in stainless steel or even titanium!
My box of Quality Stays has kept me from the ironing board and has saved the life of many a shirt which would have otherwise been cast off in disgust.
Image courtesy of Amazon.
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Or you could, you know, switch dry cleaners.
Or you can invest in some nice, non-iron dress shirts and a box of stays and never go to the cleaners again
I use the same three aluminum stays for all of my shirts. Supposedly they can poke through the fabric, but I’ve not had this to happen yet.
I’ve been debating getting some brass (or even the titanium) stays, but my plastic ones have yet to wear out.
Does the aluminum feel flimsy, like you could bend it accidentally?
Well, no not really. But if you pull a stupid like I did, and leave them in through a wash cycle… then it’s game over for the shirt and the stays.
I only did that once and, of course, since I’ve stopped doing that, I’ve had great luck with them. didn’t even think of going titanium. I think I just saw the aluminum ones and grabbed for them.
Doh! The titanium stays call out to the inner James Bond fantasy I’ve been harboring. Like I could use them to deflect a stray bullet, or maybe I could use them to cut through a rope that some maniacal despot had used to tie me up with while he unfolded his evil world-conquering scheme.
I love my plastic collar stays. The problem I have is that I wear golf shirts to work most of the time. The collars are quite a lot like Dilbert’s ties, but they’re not made so that I can use collar stays. I have yet to find a workable solution.
You could try these collar stays for polo shirts that I saw on Amazon. I’ve been curious about them for a while now. Not curious enough to buy them myself, but curious nonetheless.