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c073186

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 2, 2007
821
3
For those of you who work in an office where you wear dress slacks/suits/shirts most days that require dry cleaning ... how frequently do you dry clean a pair of pants? Assume normal usage (I suppose this depends on how many pairs you rotate between) and not something that requires immediate cleaning (i.e. spilling food/drink on your pants).

I'm looking for some clothes to purchase for work and most say dry clean only, some are pants, some sweaters... I'm just wondering how often would I need to be paying for these to be cleaned? Not trying to sound cheap or un-hygenic, I'm just curious.
 

Tomorrow

macrumors 604
Mar 2, 2008
7,160
1,364
Always a day away
For those of you who work in an office where you wear dress slacks/suits/shirts most days that require dry cleaning ... how frequently do you dry clean a pair of pants? Assume normal usage (I suppose this depends on how many pairs you rotate between) and not something that requires immediate cleaning (i.e. spilling food/drink on your pants).

I'm looking for some clothes to purchase for work and most say dry clean only, some are pants, some sweaters... I'm just wondering how often would I need to be paying for these to be cleaned? Not trying to sound cheap or un-hygenic, I'm just curious.

If the clothes are dry clean only, I can typically wear pants twice before having them cleaned. If it's a suit, I have the jacket cleaned whenever I have the pants cleaned.

None of my dress shirts are dry clean only, so I have them laundered, starched, and pressed after each wearing. Ties I've only ever had spot-cleaned when needed.

That being said, most of my work clothes are machine washable, including slacks, casual pants, and shirts. I rarely wear a suit, jacket, or tie.
 

SoundsEclectic

macrumors newbie
May 19, 2016
27
6
Necrobump:

I've been wearing suit and tie for work every day for the past year. I only have three suits and dry clean them once a quarter IF THAT. I have about 15 dress shirts that I wear once if I sweat or move around a lot. Twice if I'm sitting on my butt all day and don't sweat.

I plan to upgrade my suit game as I'm sure I'm not the nicest smelling colleague. :D
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
May 5, 2008
23,396
26,521
The Misty Mountains
Maybe I'm a slob, :):) but as a pilot I'd usually wear the same pair of uniform pants for 4 days on a trip and then cold wash them in Woolite (these pants called for dry cleaning). I would have my dress jacket dry cleaned as needed.
 
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flyinmac

macrumors 68040
Sep 2, 2006
3,579
2,465
United States
I've had many clothes that said dry clean only. And, I've washed them for years without any problems. I'm not messing with dry cleaning.

I've washed slacks, dress shirts, and even business suits. Never been a problem, and they survived quite well. Just use cool temp to dry.
 

Scepticalscribe

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Jul 29, 2008
63,834
46,282
In a coffee shop.
Working abroad - sometimes for months at a time - meant that my suits, and slacks, were dry-cleaned when I was home on leave. My tweed, or wool, jackets would be dry cleaned perhaps every few months - dry cleaning takes a lot out of clothing.

Shirts were never dry cleaned - I wear cotton, and they were laundered and pressed after being worn once.
 

Scepticalscribe

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Jul 29, 2008
63,834
46,282
In a coffee shop.
I won't buy anything that's dry-clean only. I rarely purchase anything that even requires ironing!

Agreed.

Natural fibres only for me (that means cotton, linen, wool, cashmere); and never dry-clean only; even my suits have been sponged - and tough twill is more than capable of coping with that - and they are dry-cleaned when I am home.
 
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heehee

macrumors 68020
Jul 31, 2006
2,469
233
Same country as Santa Claus
Work dress shirts I take to the cleaners as it's a pain try to iron 3-4 shirts a week, takes me about 20 minutes each. For $2 each, I think it's well worth my time. They do not get dry clean, as many believe, they get laundered. Dress pants I probably wear them 6-8 times before dry cleaning them, suit jackets more, don't keep count though.
 
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Scepticalscribe

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Jul 29, 2008
63,834
46,282
In a coffee shop.
Work dress shirts I take to the cleaners as it's a pain try to iron 3-4 shirts a week, takes me about 20 minutes each. For $2 each, I think it's well worth my time. They do not get dry clean, as many believe, they get laundered. Dress pants I probably wear them 6-8 times before dry cleaning them, suit jackets more, don't keep count though.

Yes, I can well understand that: I am not much of a fan of ironing, myself.
 

2298754

Cancelled
Jun 21, 2010
4,890
941
All my button-downs (casual and dress) are worn once (or twice, if i'm not moving around as much) before being dry cleaned.

Someone suggested using Febreeze between wears to me, so I'd have to dry-clean less, but no thanks. Didn't work well.
 
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