Simon Crompton has been working on a very useful video series on how to take care your tailored garments. The first video was on basic cleaning procedures; this second is about how to press a jacket.
We’ve often warned about the dangers of garment steamers. They can be good if you use them judiciously, but if you’re not careful, you can take all the shaping out of your jacket and cause the seams to pucker.
So, how do you deal with wrinkles? To be honest, I mostly just hang my jackets up and let the wrinkles naturally fall out (anything left I chalk up to sprezzatura). The proper way, however, is to press it. Jeffery Diduch of Tutto Fatto a Mano has a very useful guide on how to do that at home. Above is a demonstration by some of the good folks at Richard Anderson.
If you’re too scared to press your jackets at home, like me, you can just send them to Rave FabriCARE. A local dry cleaner may also be able to do it for you, but you want to find someone who will do the process by hand, rather than machine. The difference may not be worth the money on a cheaper suit jacket or sport coat, but a machine press can really flatten the life out of high-quality garment.
