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Polos - For work (1 Viewer)

TheIronSheik

TheIronSheik

SUPER ELITE UPPER TIER
So like most of us, my office is a business casual setting, which means 98% of the time I'm wearing a Polo shirt.  Summer it's short sleeved, winter it's long sleeved.  But I am always having issues finding Polos that don't shrink 3 sizes after the first wash.  At first I thought it was because I was buying cheap ones.  So I bit the bullet and bought some high end ones.  And they shrank too.  For the most part, it seems like about 80% of the Polos I buy are given to charities after wearing them once.  

But because they are for work and I don't care about style too much, I'm looking for cheap Polos.  Every so often, I find some good ones at Kohl's that are like $20 and haven't shrunk in 5 years.  But I'm wondering if anyone else has found a reliable, cheap Polo shirt.  Any recommendations?  Really don't want to pay too much for them since I need a lot.  

Show me what you got!!!

 
TheIronSheik said:
So like most of us, my office is a business casual setting, which means 98% of the time I'm wearing a Polo shirt.  Summer it's short sleeved, winter it's long sleeved.  But I am always having issues finding Polos that don't shrink 3 sizes after the first wash.  At first I thought it was because I was buying cheap ones.  So I bit the bullet and bought some high end ones.  And they shrank too.  For the most part, it seems like about 80% of the Polos I buy are given to charities after wearing them once.  

But because they are for work and I don't care about style too much, I'm looking for cheap Polos.  Every so often, I find some good ones at Kohl's that are like $20 and haven't shrunk in 5 years.  But I'm wondering if anyone else has found a reliable, cheap Polo shirt.  Any recommendations?  Really don't want to pay too much for them since I need a lot.  

Show me what you got!!!
Click to expand...
Buy shirts that aren't 100% cotton.

You need a polyester blend. And this ain't your dad's polyester. Better fabrics - less wrinkles. Easy to maintain. 

 
similar'ish situation to me. we switched to casual-within-reason but i still wear khakis and polo's a couple days per week.

also sick of shrinking polo shirts so i have cycled through a number of brands trying to find something that doesn't stiffen, shrink and fade after a couple washes (always hang dry).  right now my go-to for cheap polo shirts is Target's Goodfellow brand.

typically anywhere between $14 - $22. you can get plain colors. they seem to be holding up pretty well, not fading, not shrinking. 

 
mr. furley said:
similar'ish situation to me. we switched to casual-within-reason but i still wear khakis and polo's a couple days per week.

also sick of shrinking polo shirts so i have cycled through a number of brands trying to find something that doesn't stiffen, shrink and fade after a couple washes (always hang dry).  right now my go-to for cheap polo shirts is Target's Goodfellow brand.

typically anywhere between $14 - $22. you can get plain colors. they seem to be holding up pretty well, not fading, not shrinking. 
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Just went online and saw they were on sale for like $9 clearance.  So I bought 5 of them to test out.  :thumbup:

They only had short sleeved.  I need to find some long sleeved ones for the winter.

 
TheIronSheik said:
Just went online and saw they were on sale for like $9 clearance.  So I bought 5 of them to test out.  :thumbup:

They only had short sleeved.  I need to find some long sleeved ones for the winter.
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i also own a couple of the Target C9 shirts for summer. mostly i buy the running crew neck shirts but i've got a couple of their polo's.  nice and breezy in the summer. great for wearing on a hot day :thumbup:

 
I wore them for the majority of my 30s and 40s. I loath them now and I’ll only wear one when I’m working on outside or something in the house.

 
Hang dry down? 

But seriously, I wear polos 95% of the time for work too. Try looking for “golf” shirts with all that fancy microfiber instead of the standard cotton/poly blend. 

Nike, Adidas, UA, and Travis Mathew are mostly what I’ve got. And yeah these are $50 plus each, but they hold hp really well. Found another brand recently at ****’s - Walter Hagen - that are pretty nice. Seems like I get an email a day from that store offering 20% off or better, so that’s a bonus. 

 
mr. furley said:
Also sick of shrinking polo shirts so i have cycled through a number of brands trying to find something that doesn't stiffen, shrink and fade after a couple washes (always hang dry).
Click to expand...
I feel like the hang-dry advice may have been overlooked.

If you bring home new T-shirts and polos and don't want them to shrink, you should hang-dry them the first three or four times you wash them. If you feel like the fabric comes out too stiff after hang-drying, you can throw them into the dryer for a few minutes -- 3-5 minutes is plenty enough to soften the fabric back up.

After those initial three or four washes, the size of the garment should largely be set and much less prone to shrinking (cotton-poly blends shouldn't shrink at all at this point). However, though your shirts can be safely dried at this point, you still want to avoid using the max heat setting in the dryer (save that for towels and sheets). "Low and slow" drying helps the fabric last longer and mitigates shrinkage.

 
Doug B said:
I feel like the hang-dry advice may have been overlooked.

If you bring home new T-shirts and polos and don't want them to shrink, you should hang-dry them the first three or four times you wash them. If you feel like the fabric comes out too stiff after hang-drying, you can throw them into the dryer for a few minutes -- 3-5 minutes is plenty enough to soften the fabric back up.

After those initial three or four washes, the size of the garment should largely be set and much less prone to shrinking (cotton-poly blends shouldn't shrink at all at this point). However, though your shirts can be safely dried at this point, you still want to avoid using the max heat setting in the dryer (save that for towels and sheets). "Low and slow" drying helps the fabric last longer and mitigates shrinkage.
Click to expand...
Way too much work. Buy a size larger. Shrink it. Move on to more important endeavors.

 
Your issues with shrinkage....is it more because they are becoming too short?

Several brands are adding a tall version now mixed in with their regular sizes (XLT, LT, etc.)

 
I buy the cheap polos from Kohl's pretty often, especially when they are on sale. I usually wear a 2X shirt but for the polos I go with XLT to get the length because that's where they seem to shrink.

 
parasaurolophus said:
Way too much work. Buy a size larger. Shrink it. Move on to more important endeavors.
Click to expand...
The explanation was long, but the concept is simple. You can return back to the ol' college-kid laundry methods after the first few washes.

I will add that even after tumble drying, polos look and wear a lot better if you hang them on hangers rather than ball them up in a pile on the couch :D  

 
I used to be a bit of a polo shirt addict. At one point I owned about 100 shirts, but now the collection is down to around 50. I've separated them into 3 different categories: "work only" (either because they are high-end or because they have a corporate logo on them), "golf only" (too sporty for work, too nice to get dirty), and "everything else".

I usually stick with golf brands (Callaway and Nike are my favorites), but I'll shop Kohls or Wal-Mart if they have a sale. But my rule of thumb with the store brands is that I'll never pay more than $9 per shirt.

I haven't had much experience with shrinkage, though. But I always wash my shirts in cold water and then hang dry.

 
Yeah, you can’t throw anything nice into the dryer. That murders your clothes. 
 

The blended/micro shorts are nice and last much longer as long as you don’t have a job that has any physical activity as the fabric snag and tear fairly easy. You end up with a bunch of holes and odd thread lines. 

 
STEADYMOBBIN 22 said:
Agreed. That’s why I wore em so much. I just hate the generic look of them. It’s like owning a Honda. Everyone else has them. 
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it's kind of true of men's clothing in general, though.

polo or button down

sweater

khakis or slacks

tough to variate much in a business casual environment

 
Quint said:
Hang dry down? 

But seriously, I wear polos 95% of the time for work too. Try looking for “golf” shirts with all that fancy microfiber instead of the standard cotton/poly blend. 

Nike, Adidas, UA, and Travis Mathew are mostly what I’ve got. And yeah these are $50 plus each, but they hold hp really well. Found another brand recently at ****’s - Walter Hagen - that are pretty nice. Seems like I get an email a day from that store offering 20% off or better, so that’s a bonus. 
Click to expand...
Yeah, I have a bunch of nice golf shirts that don't usually shrink.  But they are expensive.  And I've ruined a bunch of them with stains by spilling something on them from work or getting them dirty from ink or something stupid.  That's why I'd prefer the cheap ones.  So when I screw them up, they are disposable.  Just not single use disposable.

 
eoMMan said:
Your issues with shrinkage....is it more because they are becoming too short?

Several brands are adding a tall version now mixed in with their regular sizes (XLT, LT, etc.)
Click to expand...
Yes.  This is 90% of the problem.  I've even gone to Big and Tall stores and bought some long ones and after a couple of washes, they still get short.  There are some that get tight on me, but mostly the issue is they don't stay tucked in any more.

 
mr. furley said:
it's kind of true of men's clothing in general, though.

polo or button down

sweater

khakis or slacks

tough to variate much in a business casual environment
Click to expand...
Yup.  And Friday is casual day, which just means jeans and an untucked polo.  Woohoo!  So casual. 

 
TheIronSheik said:
Yes.  This is 90% of the problem.  I've even gone to Big and Tall stores and bought some long ones and after a couple of washes, they still get short. 
Click to expand...
I am curious about the specifics of your laundry process. How much of it do you actively control (wash & rinse temperatures, heavy duty-vs-gentle, dryer temperature, etc.) vs. going on auto-pilot and just throwing stuff in the washer/dryer without setting anything?

 
The last few posts about the shirts being too small reminded me that when I was younger and wore crappy polos I would have to stand on them and pull them up to stretch them out to make em longer.

 
Doug B said:
The explanation was long, but the concept is simple. You can return back to the ol' college-kid laundry methods after the first few washes.

I will add that even after tumble drying, polos look and wear a lot better if you hang them on hangers rather than ball them up in a pile on the couch :D  
Click to expand...
Do you use those big padded things that go on the hangers too? Otherwise shoulder niples suck. 

 
Who the hell decided that a polo was "business" anything, anyway?  Polo shirts are what you wear when you work at Subway (or, you know, play polo).

Get a new job, IMO.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Doug B said:
I am curious about the specifics of your laundry process. How much of it do you actively control (wash & rinse temperatures, heavy duty-vs-gentle, dryer temperature, etc.) vs. going on auto-pilot and just throwing stuff in the washer/dryer without setting anything?
Click to expand...
I'm a man.  My wife does the laundry.

 
What finks said. Are there that many of you here wearing those abominations? And DDT o they really make them in long sleeve? Just buy some nice dress shirts and maybe some nice camps or guyabaras for casual.

 
parasaurolophus said:
Do you use those big padded things that go on the hangers too? Otherwise shoulder nipples suck. 
Click to expand...
Like Joan Crawford said ... "NO WIRE HANGERS!!!!!"  :hot:

Seriously, regular plastic hangers generally work fine. We've also got some wide felt-covered hangers that are made for hanging ladies gowns and such -- those wide felt hangers definitely guarantee to keep your polo shirt shoulders in shape. 

 
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TheIronSheik said:
Sure.  But I love my wife and I don't think I should find a new one just because my polos are shrinking in the wash. 
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All I'm saying is that the polo shrinkage is preventable. It requires attention, and a small amount of effort, but it is preventable. It's up to you whether or not you truly desire to solve the problem.

 
I didn't know this was such a problem.  :oldunsure:   Maybe it's because I buy large but am more M/L size and don't notice or just happen to buy the right synthetic.  :shrug:   I always wash them in cold water.

 
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