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Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette.
In today's video, we discuss wardrobe maintenance essentials and 10 things you need to protect
your wardrobe investment.
If you're into classic men's wardrobe, you can invest an unlimited amount of money into
it but if you do so, you want to protect your investment.
Over the course of 18 years, I've learned a thing or two about maintaining a wardrobe
and in this video, I'm going to share my ten tips to keep your wardrobe in the best shape
possible.
For example, the jacket I'm wearing here right now is vintage, it's a Augusto Caraceni From
Mario Caraceni in Milan.
It's old but I kept it in great shape without bringing it to the dry cleaner because I brush
it properly, I hang it in the right hangers, and I store it in the closet and in garment
bags.
So without further ado, let's start with number one, closet organization.
A functioning closet is the base of your wardrobe because if it works, you have the right height
of your hangers, you organize it in a way that nothing gets lost and that you maximize
the space that you get out of it.
Of course, a custom closet is the holy grail and what every clothes horse want, however,
it's quite expensive and you also need the necessary space.
If that's not possible, today, fortunately, you have lots of different options including
things like Elfa or even IKEA which has this pack system which is quite unaffordable but
customizeable and so you can get exactly the items you want for your pocket squares, for
your ties, for your shoes, and for your jackets.
You have an organized overview of everything you have in your inventory without wasting
anything.
So in essence, I strongly advise you to go with a customizeable system because most standard
wardrobes are not made for a classic man's wardrobe.
They have bars in awkward places and for example, I put my bars on the very top because I did
not want to have those extra space on top to store things because that's very hard to
reach and since I'm tall, I can get all the hangers without a problem but I wanted my
storage space in the middle because that's where I have my pocket squares and I wanted
to have them visibly right in front of my eye.
if you are thinking of a custom closet, there are hundreds of companies out there but if
you know exactly what you want, it may be a good idea to talk to a local carpenter as
they may give you a better quality at a lower price.
Especially if you have an old house that is not standard and conforming to what current
closet companies offer.
Number two is quality hangers.
I urge you to invest in good hangers with a wide shoulder pad because it protects your
jacket shoulder so you can wear the jacket for 30-40 years without having any issues.
On top of that, a sturdy, felted trouser bar prevents trousers from sliding down and if
you have enough space, you can even double or triple up your pants in case you have more
pants than jackets.
Note this trouser bar is also of a much thicker or bigger diameter than a normal trouser bar
because of that, you don't get a visible crease or wrinkle when you store it even for years.
If you go with wire hangers you get from your dry cleaner or thinner plastic hangers, you
may be able to squeeze more garments into your closet or your wardrobe, however, you'll
get wrinkles and it will destroy your jacket over time.
If you invest money in high quality clothes, you don't want to skimp on your hanger because
it's so inexpensive comparatively and it would be a waste of your expensive suit or jacket.
My favorite hangers come from Butler Luxury, I've tested a few including Amercican brands,
Italian brands, German brands, and it's my go to hangers because it's sturdy, it's made
out of 2 pieces of wood, it has a wide shoulder that is not too wide so I get enough hangers
into my closet and overall, these hangers have protected my wardrobe over the years.
They come in different finishes including gold and silver and different varnishes of
the wood.
They are also matte and not shiny which I really like and so you can choose something
that works with your wardrobe.
That being said, if you have 30 suits, it's quite an investment.
If you can only afford a few hangers at a time, I suggest to go with your suits and
your jackets and then your pants.
Of course, you can go with suit hangers or they also have suit hangers with a double
bar and if you have a lot of trousers, I would go with that.
If wooden hangers are too expensive for you, you can also sometimes find more inexpensive
plastic hangers, or sometimes even from brand department stores that are quite wide so i
would starwith those because a thicker plastic hanger is better than a thin wooden hanger.
When it comes to shirts, you should definitely go with a thinner hanger.
personally, I have some that match my suit hangers so it's all consistent but you can
go with plastic or something really thin like even wire would work however with wire, sometimes
it oxidizes and it rubs off on the shirt so I personally stay clear of that.
Three, invest in a good iron and even more importantly, an ironing board.
Not all irons are alike.
mot people can afford a regular steam iron, it's a consumer grade but it has a good amount
of steam holes and you have to refill the water on top and that helps to release wrinkles
in your shirts or your suits.
They also come with a temperature adjustment depending on the material your garments are
made of.
It's important that you have a steam iron that's very powerful because ultimately, that's
what releases the wrinkles and even at the lower temperature, you get rid of the wrinkles.
Whereas if you don't have a steam iron and you just have the heat which can help a little
bit.
If you iron for example wool, too hot, it gets shiny, it looks worn out and cheap.
I also have a tailor's iron and it's a gravity feed and it's more of a hassle to set it up
so I use it less frequently and overall, I quite enjoy my consumer grade iron because
it has two pointed ends and I can iron back and forth without getting creases into my
shirts.
Now something that most people underestimate is the ironing board, there are standard ironing
boards for $10 and they do the job but what happens is all that steam just condenses and
so your shirts will either be wet and if you really want to get the wrinkles out, it pays
to put them in a plastic bag and spray some water onto it and let it sit for about 15
minutes and that way, all the wrinkles will come out and it's very easy to iron them.
Of ocurse with all that moisture, it may sometimes take a while to get the shirts dry and so
what the pros go for and the alterations tailors is a professional ironing board that has a
vacuum motor at the bottom of it that sucks out the moist air and that way, you release
the wrinkles but you iron much, much faster.
So when in doubt, I'd go with an inexpensive iron and an expensive ironing board rather
than the other way around.
I've tested several machines, the ones with the water tanks and ultimately, I always came
back to the simple ones because I invested in the ironing board with the suction engine.
You can make that investment, there are also less expensive options out there on the market
and you can find out more about that in our article on the website, here.
Item number four is a garment steamer.
Even though you can use a regular iron that has a steam button to get some steam out of
it, it's very little compared to a designated garment steamer.
I use a garment steamer especially when I change seasons when I go from winter to spring
summer and vice versa because it helps to release wrinkles and it also freshens up garments
without having to bring them to the dry cleaner.
If you don't have space for a steamer or if you're travelling, what I suggest to do is
take your clothes, put them in the bathroomm turn on the hot water, let it go, so you get
a lot of steam and steam your garments that way.
It takes a lot longer and its a lot less efficient but if that's your only way, that's a good
way to release wrinkles.
Of course, there's a lot of different models out there and I suggest you have something
with a long handle and a hose so you can move around easily around the garment without being
constricted.
The fifth items to invest in are clothes brushes.
They work particularly well in conjunction with steam.
What they do is release dirt and they help to keep the intergrity of your garment.
If you bursh regularly, your garments will last longer because there's less dirt so moths
will get to it less easily and overall, with a clothesbrush, you want something that is
not too stiff and not too soft because for your garments, it really has to get under
it and you don't want to damage them.
This one for example, would be too soft.
For a cashmere garment that's very fine, you can get something that's a little softer and
you can do that by taking bristles that are a little longer.
If you havea coarser garment like a tweed, get a brush that has bristles that's a litte
shorter.
Personally, I prefer brushes that are made by hand with natural bristles such as ***
hair or boar hair that won't come out and you may wonder, why do I not use a lint roller
because that seems to be the golden standard these days.
In my opinion, a lint roller is the worst thing you can use on a garment because it
pulls out fibers so you are more likely to experience pilling especially on sweaters
whereas with a brush, you don't get that effect.
Also, a lint roller is something that's disposable so you have to keep buying it versus a clothes
brush which is one time investment that should last you a lifetime if it's not machine made,
but handmade.
On top of that, lint rollers only get the stuff that's on the surface whereas a garment
bursh can really get the dust out of the entire fabric.
Shoes accessories.
The first thing you want is a shoe horn simply becaue it helps to protect the cap of your
shoe when you put them on and maybe even take them off because that's something you cannot
repair and even if you buy a quality pair of shoes, if you put it on without the shoe
horn, you'll damage it and it will wear out prematurely and it's hard or impossible to
repair.
Another item you should invest in is shoe trees.
I know it can be expensive and at first, it might not seem to be an investment and you
can't wear it, no one will ever see it but in my experience, a wooden pair of shoe tress
help to elongate the life span of your shoes tremendously.
Basically, once a shoe is worn, there's a lot of moisture in your shoe and because you
roll when you walk, you get creases in the uppers especially, below the vamp/.
Now, a shoe tree helps to bring your shoe back to its original shape, it prevents wrinkles
and it helps to release moisture from it.
In my opinion, a proper pair of shoe trees can probably double or even triple the life
span of your shoes.
Most models in plastic have a little ball in the back and kind of a coil and while that's
okay, it's not always perfect for the shoe and sometimes it's too narrow or too wide
and so that's not ideal.
In my opinion, the better version is one with the adjustable coil that helps to stretch
your shoe, that has wood and maybe some gaps to release the moisture although that's not
quite necessary.
You want something that's round in the back and not too pointy so your heel cap won't
be damaged.
For that reason, I suggest not to go with this kind of shoe trees because the back is
too small and you are more likely to damage your heel cap with that.
Premium version for RTW shoes or MTO shoes are the ones with a double coil and something
that adjusts on the outside and so you can see here, there's actually leather there.
I had them adjusted at a local cobbler just so they fit the shape of that particular shoes
which is best because then, they stay in shape the longest.
Of course, if you have a bespoke or custom made pair of shoes, you should get the original
shoe trees with it that mirror the last because that's really the best thing you can do.
Sometimes, there's also a hole which is hand carved such as with I think St. Crispin's,
that is a nice detail but not necessary.
In terms of wood, you can go with semething lightweight for travel such as poplar or sometimes
people go with cedar for the smell.
In my opinion, it does not really matter that much as long as it's wood.
A shoe shine kit comes in handy because it's a place where you can store all your shoe
polish, your cloth, your brushes, everything you need and cleaning your shoes and probably
maintaining them definitely helps to look good and last long.
Item number six is garment bags.
It's ideal if you transition your wardrobe in and out and you want to store it away but
protecting it at the same time.
For storage purposes, I found that cotton is ideal because it's breathable and it protects
the garment from dust and that's basically all you need.
On the other hand, for travel, cotton can be quite heavy so I stick with this lightweight,
I think polyester nylon garment bags that don't add any weight to my suitcase but they
really protect my suits and my jackets from getting wrinkled and sometimes, I even have
2-3 in my suitcase folded and it really helps to keep your items protected.
Seven, Off season storage.
It's very tempting to leave your entire wardrobe in your closet or where it's easily reachable
all year round but in reality, you will only access a limited amount of clothes at a time.
So ideally, if the season changes, you should move what you're not wearing anymore someplace
else because that way, you see everything you have for the season and it's easier to
put together your outfits and then it's also fun to go through your garments to know what
you have when the new season arrives.
For example, things like your overcoats should be covered during the summer because they
won't get very dusty and so they're in great shape when they come out of the closet in
September or October.
Eight, find good maintenance services and with that, I mean people like menders or maybe
a neighborhood lady who's very good at sewing or patching because eventually, things will
go wrong, you'll wear something out, you'll have a stain that won't come out in the dry
cleaner and having someone who can help you with that is really essential and you don't
want to miss that.
unfortunately in the US these days, it's very hard to find these skilled people.
In Europe, in Italy, or in Germany, it's still easier in my experience but even in the US,
you can find them.
Check out Craigslist, check out local listings, and try to develop a relationship with them
because that way they'll help you very quickly even if you are in a very tight timeline.
Nine is the alterations tailor.
No matter if you mostly have custom garments or if you buy everything off the rack or vintage,
the alteration tailor should be a man's best friend.
Why?
Simply because there's not a single thing off the rack that will fit you perfectly simply
because you're a human being and as such you are asymmetrical versus normal off the rack
garments are symmetrical.
So because of that, there will always going to be some tweaks and a skilled alterations
tailor can shorten the sleeve from the top on the shoulder without ruining the look of
it and it's really helpful and really irreplaceable if you buy a vintage jacket for 20 bucks with
sleeves that have surgeon cuffs and if that's the case, you can't shorten it from the bottom
because otherwise, portions are off.
Ten, A good dry cleaner.
I know dry cleaners are around many places but most of them just focus on price and volume.
In my experience, that's not great for a handmade jacket or a handmade shirt.
You want to look for quality and pay a little extra but get someone who really understands
and appreciates your garment and does not just iron it with a machine so you get wrinkles
and a lot of heavy starch because that's just not the good way to maintain the shirt and
chances are, buttons will pop or seams will come undone are much increased with a cheap
dry cleaner.
When looking for a dry cleaner, you want to look for someone who cleans onsite, who offers
hand ironing, and I found that if they offer museum quality dry cleaning, which is usually
something only done for wedding dresses or items that go into a museum, their general
knowledge of dry cleaning and their spectrum is broader and they usually focus more on
quality than in volume.
Of course, you'll also pay more but it's going to be more worth it for your expensive garments.
if you wear hats you definitely want to check out if you have a local hat blocker because
they can exchange your ribbon but more importantly they can reshape your hat, they can stretch
your hat if it has shrunk but if that's not the case, I suggest you get a hat stretcher,
they're adjustable and I personally have a long oval head so I always get them to make
sure my hats don't get round which have a natural tendency to do and that's a good alternative
for a hat blocker.
If you can't reach them.
I would suggest to check your yellow pages or search online, they're not always the most
modern people who do that so they may not have a website, they may not be listed in
Google but look around here locally, i found one at a dry cleaner they don't advertise
heavily but they have this beautiful hat ribbons that I sometimes put on hats and it's just
fun to have a local resource that can help me with my hats.
For example, they can also put in new sweat bands if you wore them out or put in a cloth
band in a Panama hat because I did not want it leather.
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videos related to garments maintenance and garments in general.
I'm sure you will enjoy them and stay tuned for next time!