Permanent Press

Wrinkled shirts are a nightmare which haunts every office-goer, especially when he or she has to get ready to go to work. Hastily ironing shirts, having breakfast in a jiffy, dashing to the car becomes the daily routine, but then you get stuck in the traffic too; and after patiently honking for what seems like hours in the traffic, you finally reach your destination for an important business meeting, only to find creases all over shirt. All your efforts go down the drain when you are less than your best self on such a crucial day. Well, thanks to wrinkle free shirts, you can rescue yourself from such a predicament. Ever wondered how the wrinkled free shirts and clothing happen to be, eh.. wrinkle-free? Its credit goes to a process called permanent press.

What is Permanent Press?

Permanent press is a chemical process where fabrics are chemically treated to prevent the wrinkles from forming at all, thus holding on to their shape. As the effect of this treatment is long-lasting, the chemicals in it are quite strong, leaving the fabric weakened and prone to tearing. Hence, thick or good quality fabrics are preferred for such a treatment. The chemicals used in it are usually simplest forms of alcohol, mainly methanol. During the mid 19th century, a religious sect called the Shakers manufactured a cotton which was chemically treated to give a wrinkle free look. Later, a scientist and inventor called Ruth Benerito made some significant contributions to the textile industry by developing a modern process of permanent press based on methanal (formaldehyde). After some years and some more technological advances later, this chemical was replaced by DMDHEU for treating garments to get a wrinkle free effect. When nano-technology came into the picture, it was also used in the textile industry to solve the wrinkle problem. In this technology, tiny molecules attach themselves to the fabric unlike the formaldehyde treatment where the chemical was coated on to the fabric, leading to clogging of the pores of the fabrics. The nano technological permanent press process poses lesser health risk than the earlier methods.

This term is also referred to a washing clothes method. All those clothes which are labeled as permanent press are meant for permanent press dryer.

Permanent Press Cycle

You must have noticed the permanent press button on washing machines nowadays. If you wash your clothes in this wash cycle, you would notice that agitation level in the wash cycle is less than the regular wash which leads to minimum or no wrinkles. In the spin cycle, moisture is added to the clothes in order to maintain their moisture content and minimize the wrinkles. After the wash, a cool down rinse cycle follows. But this feature might differ in some new washing machine models. The temperature required for a permanent press wash cycle is "cold" and after the washing is done, set it for permanent press drying. Go for permanent press dryer only if you are washing fabrics or synthetic clothes that labeled so. A permanent press cycle in the dryer is especially made to resist the wrinkles in the man-made fibers. It begins with a normal temperature but cools down at the end of the cycle.

The textile industry has come a long way from weaving and spinning. With methods like permanent press around, there are going to more comfortable and convenient fabrics for us to use. Since washing clothes on a laundry day is hardly a dreaded task anymore, I guess your morning blues especially regarding wrinkled garments are over.