Is the chemical on no-iron shirts safe?

Kristine

I really like button down shirts and would like to add a few short sleeve or sleeveless for summer. I usually don't iron, so I'd like to find some iron-free versions. But I've noticed most of them are "treated". Can anyone give me an idea of what that means?

I definitely don't want questionable chemicals on my clothes. I don't even dry clean for that reason (we have a green dry cleaner in town, but it's not convenient). Any thoughts on no-iron shirts and if they're safe? Or maybe I should just stick with poly or rayon blends.

15 years ago

Dressing

18 replies

Latest reply was from Thistle

Carole

Veteran

Do NOT use the high setting on your iron!!! I ruined a brand new $60 shirt that way, stupid me. Use the medium setting and you will be fine...I felt sick after unwrapping the packaging around my sons new shirt and 10 minutes later having to throw it in the trash!

15 years ago

Anonymous

I think I read that a toxic plastic is used but can't find that article. Here is what the watchdogs at Care2 say about no iron:

Shop for clothes with less textile finishing
“Finishing” is the last step in the processing of many conventional, easy-care garments. Textiles are treated with chemicals to make garments that are miraculously: wrinkle resistant, stain resistant, fireproof, mothproof, anti-mildew, ant-bacterial, and anti-static. The little problem here is that the chemicals used for finishing include formaldehyde, caustic soda, sulfuric acid, bromines, urea resins, sulfonamides, halogens, and bromines. Not things you really want rubbing against your skin or wafting up through your nose. (Not to mention the toxic wastewater run off during production and washing of these items.) The “new smell” of clothes is usually from a sizing that is used to prevent wrinkling during shipping and display in the store—it is temporary and will be rinsed out after a few trips through the wash. The other finishings, however, are heat treated into the fabric and are much more permanent. Watch out for labels like “stain-resistant” and “no iron.”

15 years ago

Anonymous

Whoa! I just learned something new today! Thanks, Joy!

15 years ago

Kate

Veteran

wow, thanks for filling us in Joy. That is horrifying! I will stay far away from no iron and stain-resistant clothes!

15 years ago

Mamapicklejuice

Veteran

Greeeeeeat. I just bought 3 oxford shirts from Land's End - LOVE them and have taken the tags off of two of them (bye bye, $70!).

Crap.

15 years ago

Kristine

Veteran

Too bad, disappointing! Someone needs to invent a non-wrinkling cotton, I'd be so happy!

15 years ago

Mamapicklejuice

Veteran

I just pinged Land's End customer service - they say the "light coating spray" is not formaldehyde. I didn't know how to probe WHAT chemical it was without sounding like an industrial spy.

15 years ago

Mamapicklejuice

Veteran

(If anyone wants to take a crack, let me know - I'm freaked out about wearing my shirts now.)

15 years ago

Theresa

(website)

Veteran

I can't answer from a scientific perspective, but as a mum to 2 girls who suffer from Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, I wouldn't touch them in a heartbeat

Even just regular new clothes have to be washed, soaked and sun dried several times over before I can bring them into the house so the girls don't react to all the normal "new" smells and manufacturing/dye residue etc...

Another reason I love hand-me-downs and thrifting so much! (Although depending on what detergent the previous owner used, it can still take a lot of washing to get those smells out...)

15 years ago

Kristine

Veteran

Mamapicklejuice, they're supposed to have good customer service. I'm sure they'll take your shirts back if you want to return them, especially if you've only taken the tags off but haven't worn them. I don't think you should feel bad about playng industrial spy, they should know customers care about which chemicals they're using!

15 years ago

blane1_2

Member

I just bought a 3 pack of men's tank tops that say they are 100% cotton algodon (spanish for cotton). I've been trying to tie dye them. All the standard dyes just wash out. So, I tried inkjet printer ink. Guess what? It rinsed right out. So there is some kind of polyester coating on the fabric. It really ticked me off. Brand name is First Quality.

12 years ago

ironkurtin

Veteran

Extreme chemical sensitivity aside I really would not worry about coated fabrics unless you can find proof that the coating ingredients will absorb through the skin. Even scary-sounding chemicals can be inert and nonreactive in certain forms or paired with other chemicals. And I have never yet heard of anyone passing out because of noniron fabrics, even on those horrible polyester 70s shirts that don't breathe.

12 years ago

Keix

Veteran

Mamapicklejuice, you can totally return those shirts to Land's End if you're not comfortable wearing them. They are as good as Nordstrom and Anthropologie about returns; so long as you have the receipt, the tags don't matter at all.

12 years ago

Aziraphale

Veteran

I don't know. I think I'll risk it. We already inhale so darned many unavoidable noxious chemicals just living in a city. We drink and eat food that has been chemically treated (did you know even organic food can be sprayed with pesitcides, as long as the pesticides are naturally-occurring chemicals, and not synthesized in a lab?), we rub goop all over our skin in an effort to prevent photoaging and sunburn, and we drink water that is questionable...the list goes on. What quantity of toxic compounds from my non-iron shirts is able to seep into my skin at normal temperatures? Not a lot, I'll wager. A lot of times, things are pretty inert at temperatures below several hundred degrees.

Just to be a spanner, you know.

12 years ago

Aziraphale

Veteran

Just to add: how many of us have enough background knowledge of chemistry to make informed judgments about the chemicals in or on everything we eat/drink/inhale/touch?

12 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

I'm down two for endocrine disorders, so I personally pass. Perhaps I'm more sensitive - I get headaches and a horrible burning sensation when I go into enclosed malls, etc. Working in big pharma, honestly, I wouldn't say "no evidence" means no side-effects; I'd say it means no one has gone looking.

For example, how long has the birth control pill been out? It amused me the other day to hear that some 50 years later, they're sending teams out in my area to test for b/c levels in the soil and water. Two-headed frogs et al. Same is going on with fire retardants.

On the other hand, I was born when unnatural child birth was the norm. And hey, I've made it past 40 and developed only two endocrine diseases! Hehe. *Pick your poison.*

12 years ago

Betti

Active Member

You can return those shirts, no problem. Lands End has awesome customer service.

I have a fine arts degree with an emphasis in fibers. I studied and worked with all kinds of fibers and fabrics, but that was MANY years ago. It blows my mind to see what they're doing now with chemical treatments on fibers and fabrics. I haven't kept up with the trade to say if it will or won't be harmful to a person. For myself and my family, if it doesn't stink, bleed dye/chemicals, or feel weird I think it's pretty much ok. Aziraphale touched on it above when she said many things are temperature sensitive. Ironing a no-iron shirt is probably riskier for you (your lungs) than wearing it. Washing it in harsh detergents/high temps that are not recommended could force a reaction, and is bad for the environment. Ah, it boggles the mind.

12 years ago

Thistle

Veteran

Food for thought. At least we now know and can decide accordingly.

12 years ago

Category