The internet is awash with
articles promoting the savings that can be achieved by pressing a
garment with a hand steamer (keep your entire wardrobe neat, professional and
perfectly pressed) or by hanging a garment in a
steamy bathroom (just hang your clothes in the bathroom while you
shower ... and you will have freshly pressed
clothing).
Perfectly pressed? Freshly pressed?
Nonsense.
Yes, I know, you've been using a hand steamer and/or hanging
garments in a steamy bathroom for years. And you believe it
works.
Don't think so.
Exhibit 1 in debunking the steam pressing myth is a youtube video of a "garment care professional"
attempting to steam press a wool trouser with a hand steamer.
After viewing the video, please answer this question: Do you see
a "perfectly pressed" or "freshly pressed" trouser?
I don't. I see a trouser that's so puckered it's unwearable.
Fact is, the more it's steamed, the worse it looks.
So what's the takeaway from this video? Consider these 5
points:
- Steaming is not pressing. You might be able to remove some of
the more obvious wrinkles with steam (such as wrinkles in the
crotch of a trouser or slacks), but you can't press a garment with
steam alone.
- Proper pressing involves a combination of five elements: the
skill of the presser, steam, vacuum (suction), a professional
hand-iron and specialized, contoured equipment. You may have steam
and the hand-iron, but you don't have the skill, vacuum or
specialized contoured equipment.
- Perhaps the most critical element in proper pressing involves
the stretching and shrinking of a garment's fabric using steam and
vacuum. Steam is used to relax the fibers and vacuum is used to
immediately extract all the moisture from the fabric.
If you don't extract the moisture you're left with a puckered mess
(remember the lady in the video!).
- Garments are not flat. They are comprised of many shapes and
curves. Your "pressing surface" (a hanging garment) is flat. Trying
to press shapes and curves on a flat surface without the aid of a
professional hand-iron and specialized, contoured equipment is near
impossible.
- An important ingredient in the construction of a well-made
garment (perhaps as important as the quality of the fabric and the
quality of the workmanship) is the shaping and molding of the
fabric imparted by the manufacturer or custom tailor. Poor steaming
can wreck a well-made garment.
How can I help you?