Most of the time, when you’re really concerned about getting a shirt clean, it’s not because of a specific spill. Occasionally you’ll spill some coffee on yourself, or inadvertently swipe a pen mark across your sleeve. But the stains that you wind up with most commonly on shirts aren’t accidental ones, but simply the product of everyday wear: perspiration stains, otherwise known as ‘ring around the collar.’

On blue and other colored shirts, sweat stains generally turn the color into a darker shade. On white shirts the damage is worse - the collar area will turn into an unsightly yellow as the perspiration builds up.

Fighting perspiration stains is a part of the process for each and every shirt that comes into our store. Whereas it’s really helpful when you point out a spot or stain on garments you bring in for dry cleaning, collar stains on shirts don’t require “special” attention, because they receive that attention every time. The collar of every shirt will be inspected to see if it must be “pre-spotted,” which is the application of a stain-fighting solution prior to washing. Whenever you’re visiting our store, you should see employees working a spray bottle against the collar of some shirts. It’s a part of the process for every single shirt, with no exception.

It’s important to get these collar stains removed, and not just for aesthetic reasons. Sweat stains weaken the fabric over time, and an untreated stain will expedite that. It’s one of the reasons to get your shirts done at a professional cleaners rather than at home - unless you’re willing to go to the effort of spot-treating your shirts yourself, you’re not going to be sufficiently treating those stains, and that will lead to your shirts having a shorter lifespan.

1. Why are shirts laundered rather than dry cleaned?
2. What shirts can be laundered, and what must be dry cleaned?
3. Why do women’s shirts sometimes cost more than men’s?
4. What’s the value in putting a bar code on your shirts?
5. What is starch, and should I get it on my shirts?
6. How do we remove those nasty collar stains from your shirts?
7. What machinery is used in cleaning and pressing your shirts?
8. What kind of quality control measures are in place for shirts?
9. What is 'finishing,' and what does it mean in regard to shirts?
10. What's the expected lifespan of a shirt, and how can I prolong it?