Apparently This Matters: Wear this shirt 100 times before washing
By Jarrett Bellini, CNN
May 3, 2013 -- Updated 2136 GMT (0536 HKT) | Filed under: Social Media
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| The creators of this shirt claim you can wear it over 100 times without having to wash it. But what if you fall in a cow patty? |
(CNN) -- In my bedroom there's an amazing wall-mounted hideaway ironing board. It even has an affixed light and timed electrical outlet for safety. The thing is absolutely brilliant.
Naturally, I've never used it.
Not even once. Because it's an ironing board. And, as the word suggests, it requires a willingness to iron.
"Apparently This Matters" Is Jarrett Bellini's weekly (and somewhat random) look at social-media trends.
Which, for me, is a rather lofty ambition considering I barely have a willingness to wear pants. Much less press a shirt.
That said, I'll happily carve out time for pudding and power naps. Though, sadly, neither of these dissolves wrinkles in clothes.
But they do properly illustrate the scope of my priorities. Which is to say I have none.
Fortunately, however, for the sake of my co-workers and the eco-system at large, across the street from my house there's a cleaners, and I happily pay them good money to regularly wash and iron my shirts.
And why not? In half the time it takes to fully prepare just one button-down, I can drop off seven and be done with it. Plus there's a frozen yogurt shop next door so I can treat myself for successfully delegating mild physical labor onto another human being.
"Oreo toppings? Don't mind if I do!"
Not that going to the cleaners actually needs to be justified, but it also makes me feel good to think I'm helping the local economy one mustard stain at a time. The way I see it, somebody's kid gets school supplies because I don't know how to handle a ham sandwich.
I forget to chew and it's colored pencils for everyone!
This is my ironing board. There are many like it, but this one is mine. (And I've never used it.)
But there's a new kind of men's shirt being developed that might just change this entire conversation, for the shirt's creators claim it can be worn more than 100 times without ever needing a wash.
It's sort of like that hard-to-reach part of my back. Somehow it just stays clean.
Nevertheless, the shirt is called Wool&Prince, and the makers proudly boast that it won't wrinkle, it won't get dirty, and it won't smell.
Unless you happen to wear it to the Gathering of the Juggalos.
I didn't read any specific legal language on the matter, but I reckon a spicy cocktail of Faygo, dirt, and DNA invalidates the guarantee.
Whoop! Whoop!
So, with a staunch belief in their product, Wool&Prince started a Kickstarter funding drive in mid-April. And having far surpassed the $30,000 goal, their name recently started popping up all over the web as more and more people began showing interest in this magical shirt.
The secret is wool.
Of course, most men's button-downs are made from cotton. It's soft. It's breathable. And it feels nice against your skin. Like a giraffe's tongue.
But it's not very durable.
Wool, on the other hand, is.
Yet, when most people think of wool, they picture hot, itchy sweaters that arrive annually at your house during the holidays courtesy of Nana.
It also comes in blue!
The Brooklyn-based designers of the new $98 shirts claim fine wool thread is actually the key to temperature control and moisture wicking, and that the fabric even lasts six times longer than cotton.
Whether or not the Wool&Prince shirt actually does what their Kickstarter video claims, the real point is that they've found an interesting new road into the world of casual, low-maintenance clothing. And it brings up an interesting question.
Generally speaking, how often should a man clean his shirts?
Some guys launder them after every wearing. These people are either super rich or sweat gravy.
In this scenario, I'd almost prefer to be the latter because, well ... gravy.
On the other end of the spectrum, you've got the dudes who stick with a shirt until it starts to fuse with their epidermis. At which point it has to be surgically removed with a spatula.
"Give it to me straight, Doc. Is it cancer? Is it melanoma?"
"It's Old Navy."
Between the two extremes, I probably fall somewhere in the middle -- my shirts get washed when the dog appears offended by my presence.
But I'm definitely interested to see where the Wool&Prince shirt goes and whether their "Cotton-Soft" wool fabric becomes some kind of industry standard where we no longer need to clean our clothes.
Until then, it's colored pencils for everyone.
Thank you Cnn. Frome reetime news technology.
