Burgundy shirts for corporate work environment

[SocksNStuff]

Hi,

I wondered if I could ask for a bit of advice?

My DH works in a big corporate company at higher professional level. Neither of us has any clue about clothes.

He normally wears burgundy shirts with burgundy buttons, and navy shirts with navy buttons.

The clothes in the wardrobe have suddenly all got musty smelling and I can't sort out the smell.

I managed to buy new navy shirts, but I can't find nice burgundy shirts with burgundy buttons anywhere. All the burgundy shirts have white buttons.

I did buy some from a company called Uneek, but they are not nice quality and I can't send him to work in them really.

I wondered if you might know of any kind of posh shops which would make nice burgundy shirts like this? I only know about places like Next and M&S and they just don't have the right thing. They used to always have them.

I looked in the fancy gents tailor in town and their shirts are £200 which is a bit steep. We could manage £50.

The dry cleaner said I should hang the clothes in the sun to get rid of the musty smell but I will need to wait until next year for that now.

Thanks!

@IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads Oh Gosh, I hadn't thought about moss bros. Thank you very much. My husband was just saying please could I get him some more shirts because he is living entirely in navy blue shirts and it's getting embarrassing.

We have a moss bros in town so we can go there in person and actually see if the shirt is suitable. Thank you very much. That just made my day considerably easier.

I have contacted the other company and asked to return the shirts, and they said it will be at my own expense by my own choice of courier, so I'm crossing my fingers that they don't want me to send them too far away.

I think part of the problem is that burgundy is actually a range of colours and the colours don't show very well on a computer screen, because the colour photographs quite differently in different lighting. It makes it hard to find a good one.

We did used to buy them in person in Debenhams, but the online Debenhams has nothing like that now and our shop is gone.

I could buy any colour and get the buttons changed at our local tailor shop, but that would really be a lot of buttons.

The moss bros one looks like it might be okay, but I need to go and see.

My husband's colouring has also changed a bit as he get towards 50 and I have no idea how to work out what colours he should be changing to, as his colouring becomes less dark. complicated.

Why wouldn’t you buy other colours in the meantime? White or lighter colours are more usual

Yes I did think about that. DH really likes dark shirts and really really dislikes the idea of going into light shirts. I think maybe we should go to moss bros in person and ask what they think. They must know about choosing shirts for people. I think that could be a good idea.

I will ask him what he thinks.

Part of the problem is that DH works in the tech industry, and wearing anything that resembles a business suit or office wear is absolutely not on. It's fine to rock up to work in a rugby shirt or a t shirt, but if they wear a light coloured shirt, then people will think they are in admin or a salesman. It's kind of the dress code.

Can't you send him to Moss Bros on his own? He sounds quite picky. I'm afraid the Chinese shirts have made me laugh. It's your excellent way of describing them that did it

Thanks yes they are funny. DH is picky but so am I. It's okay we will figure it out. Thanks.

If it’s acceptable to wear rugby shirts etc then I would be steering him to something much more modern than burgundy/navy shirts, I assumed he was 60’s based on choice of shirt, moss bros is probably the wrong place to look as is generally formal wear, depending on budget get him to look in Next/M&S/John Lewis for inspiration.

Why can’t he buy his own clothes?

Have you tried washing the musty shirts with Laundry Cleanser? I have yet to encounter a laundry stink that hasn’t been removed by washing at 40° with bio powder and laundry cleanser in the fabric softener section.

Stinks I have removed with this wash include poop smells from endless poop accidents in school trousers, ammonia smells from pee-soaked bedding that’s been left to fester for days, the “outside” smell from a wet hoody that’s been left in a bush for several weeks, the musty-stink from wet flannels in a box for several days/a week …. seriously, laundry cleanser kills all the bacteria and that kills the smells.

In my experience, shop brand laundry cleanser is just as effective as Dettol etc brands.

Clearly ‘Ashford of London’ is just another company importing cheap (not at £50 each) poor quality Chinese goods.

You only need to wash the shirts, not throw them away. They’ll be fine if you follow the steps below.

Also work out why they’re smelling musty otherwise any new clothes will pick up the smell very quickly.

1. How often do you clean the inside of your washing machine? Use something strong like Vamoosh washing machine cleaner to get it thoroughly clean.
2. Use washing powder instead of tabs or liquid laundry cleaner as it keeps the machine cleaner for longer.
3. Clean all his existing wardrobe contents by soaking them in a bucket of cold water with some sodium bicarbonate and then wash on the hottest wash suitable for the fabric.

Sounds like there's an issue with your washing machine or your washing powder has changed formulation. You could try sending a couple out to a dry cleaners to be laundered and pressed and see what they are like when they come back?

Have you tried stripping the shirts in a bucket? Over time the fabric can build up a coating that traps smells, especially in armpits with deodorant residue. I find stripping work shirts occasionally really freshens them up.

@HappyAsASandboy Thanks for suggesting that. I did try with Dettol laundry liquid and it didn't help. I've also done several washed in bio persil.

I think the problem is that the inside of the wardrobe got a bit fungussy. I had long covid for a long time and I think I just didn't notice that something slightly damp had gone in there, and I let it go for a bit too long. The inside of the wardrobe smelt fungussy and and all our good clothes too.

I read online that I could get the fungus smell out of the wardrobe by cleaning the walls of it with vodka and I did that but now it smells of stale vodka which is also not nice at all. I have a very senstive sense of smell post-covid and the smell turns my stomach.

I tried cleaning the vodka smell off with nail polish remover and bleach, and it hasn't helped.

It's rubbish because my husband's good suit, and all my family's guide and scout uniforms and my university gown and my good long kilt were all in there and they are all a bit ruined.

I went to the dry cleaner and they said they couldn't help.

I think a lot of people would say it smells fine, but I have a very sensitive sense of smell and for me it is really not fine. The smell inside our wardrobe turns my stomach and the clothes all smell.

#LaundryFail

In fairness, the shirts are 5 or 6 years old, so it wouldn't do any harm to replace them.

This is so bizarre the efforts you're going to, to dress a grown man.

@bigwhitedog I'm a housewife and I buy my husband's clothes. If you have a problem with that, please just don't open this thread.

I agree with others that it is key to solve the wardrobe problem or you will see a repeat of the issue. For fungus and mouldy smell generally I would treat the clothes as suggested upthread and dry them outside on a line and at the same time empty the entire wardrobe (completely), disinfect it first (especially crevices) and then dry it with a cloth and if you can be bothered with a hairdryer. If you have it, it would be worth using a UV lamp/UV hoover in there, if not, try to leave the doors open on a sunny day. Use a dehumidifier in the bottom of the wardrobe and only put clean non-musty clothes in, not too tightly packed. It is a right hassle but it should sort the problem for the future.

Dettol laundry sanitiser is excellent at removing smells. Give it a go!

Sorry to hear about the poor quality shirts, I hope you can get your money back. My DH wears a lot of shirts from Brook Tavener. They have a burgundy (described as plum) in stock:
https://www.brooktaverner.co.uk/shirts-collection/all-shirts/regular-fit-plum-needlecord-cotton-shirt-4677b.html?_gl=115eshpq_upMQ.._gs*MQ..&gclid=Cj0KCQjw267GBhCSARIsAOjVJ4GdmkhrFnPjbEeP9SQWgWwe_dCYcHs_Ug1DbdQhh2eLXrHtoTzCXlIaAhFiEALw_wcB&gbraid=0AAAAAD8idIWkmRxyHOfIp-EC2urVqS80W

@SuiGeneris Thanks so much for thinking this through with me.

Would the UV lamp help with the nasty vodka smell? The fungus is gone.

I think my remaining problems are:

1. get vodka smell out of wardrobe

2. get fungus smell out of dry clean only clothes

3. replace DH's shirts.

I think the vodka smell is esters and aldehydes, which is why I tried acetone. It didn't work though. I haven't thought through in detail the correct chemistry of how to tackle esters and aldehydes. I figured if I left the wardrobe empty with the doors wide open and the windows open it would go, but it is taking its time about it.

@Acunningruse Thanks, those look lovely. I will have a think about those.

I'm so glad that the style and beauty forum is here. I am learning so much from having access to this forum.

Abercrombie and Fitch have one too which is nice. I didn't know it might be called "plum" That is a useful tip. Thank you very much.

https://www.abercrombie.com/shop/uk/p/long-sleeve-cupro-button-up-shirt-58572819?seq=08&source=googleshopping

Thanks @Acunningruse

I am afraid this thread made me laugh out loud.