Have you heard of collar stiffeners? Chances are that you have never heard the name, and yet that you probably know what they are. Collar stiffeners, also called collar stays, collar sticks, tabs, bones, and knuckles, have existed for a long time. Indeed, the fact that some of these contraptions are made of ivory is indicative that they are at least 50 years old, the time when the use of ivory for fashion purposes became largely frowned upon. Anyway, we have digressed slightly, for those of you who do not know, collar stiffeners are small plastic or metal devices placed in the wings of a collar to ensure that the collar remains straight, and that it stays in place, across the collarbone, at all times.
Whereas in the past, collar sticks were the remit of the rich and sophisticated, with the advent of industrialisation and the mass production of plastics, they became available to the masses. Today, with the exception of informal shirts, it is rare to find a shirt that does not sport some form of collar stay. Even the cheapest of shirts will have a collar stay, although these tend to be permanent.
Which leads us nicely to the next point; there are two types of collar stay, permanent and removable. Permanent collar stays are sewn into the shirt and cannot be removed, removable collar stays are slotted into pockets found on the underside of the collar and can be exchanged when needed. Plastic collar stiffeners tend to lose their integrity after a few washes, and this is why they are interchangeable, otherwise our shirts would appear in bad condition a lot sooner than they do with stays in place.
Thus, you can appreciate, if a cheap shirt has plastic collar sticks sewn in, the shirt will lose any appeal it has after a few washes. So, our first piece of advice, when choosing a shirt ALWAYS MAKE SURE THE COLLAR STAYS ARE REMOVABLE. The only exception to this rule is with the very expensive shirts that sport high quality, metal, stays, these shirts normally cost a lot of money and are generally one off expenses for the majority of people – so you probably need not consider this fact too much.
Within the removable category of collar stiffeners, there are two types: metal and plastic. The metal varieties tend to be of better quality because they are durable and can withstand greater pressures, such as washing and tumble-drying. Additionally, the metal variety make great presents, because they can be engraved with personalised messages. The plastic variety has its merits too, for instance, they cost less and so are cheaper to use, and although cheaper, they lose very little in quality and work just as well as the metal ones, the only problem is that they will need replacing more often, but as they are cheaper in the first place, this does not make much difference.
About the AuthorIf you are interested in browsing a collection of collar stays, to see what there is on offer, then visit http://www.qstays.com/.
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