How to Keep a Shirt for Ten Years
We build shirts to last a decade. Whether they do is a partnership. Here is our half of the contract — and yours.
Wash Less, Wash Cold
The washing machine ages a shirt faster than wearing it ever will. Wash after two or three wears, not one — air a shirt overnight and it recovers more than you'd think. When you do wash: cold water, gentle cycle, buttons undone, collar stays out, similar colors. Skip the bleach forever; it wins the stain and loses the shirt.
Our care labels are sewn where you can't feel them and written to be obeyed. They are not suggestions; they are the settings we tested.
The Dryer Is Not Your Friend
Heat is how cotton dies. Hang shirts to dry on a proper hanger — they'll need half the ironing and keep their shape for years longer. Knits dry flat, reshaped by hand while damp. If you must machine-dry, low heat, remove damp, hang immediately.
Iron cotton slightly damp with good steam; linen the same, or don't iron it at all — the crease is the point. Merino barely needs it. Trousers get pressed on the crease line; that line is architecture, keep it sharp.
Rest, Rotate, Repair
Garments need days off. A shirt worn daily fails in months; the same shirt in a five-shirt rotation lasts a decade — fibers recover between wears, exactly like muscle. Cedar in the closet, real hangers, room to breathe.
And when something finally gives — a button, a seam, an elbow — repair it. Every Roos Brothers garment ships with spare buttons in a sealed envelope for exactly this day. A repaired shirt isn't diminished; it's promoted. Write to the concierge and we'll point you to the right fix. Our garments are engineered to be repaired, not replaced — that was the deal from the start.