A shirt that can be worn for up to 100 days without having to be washed or ironed is the dream of many busy men around the world. Now, thanks to textile start-up Wool & Prince, this miracle shirt has become a reality.
Six months ago, Wool & Prince founder Mac Bishop and his friends Katie Elks and Mike Major set out to make a better, longer-lasting b*tton-down shirt. They just weren’t satisfied with the garments available on the market and decided to give men around the world an alternative that didn’t wrinkle and smell after a wear or two and didn’t require constant washing, dry-cleaning or ironing for long periods of time. After doing some research they discovered wool is 6 times more durable than cotton plus it naturally fights wrinkles and odors, without any added chemicals.
With the help of 15 testers, the three young entrepreneurs developed their proprietary CottonSoft(TM) wool fabric that was light, breathable, durable and best of all soft. It was the perfect material they’d been searching for, but Mac wasn’t going to brag about its properties until he had the chance to test it out on himself. So he embarked on a 100-day challenge and wore the same magic wool shirt for 100 days straight, without washing or ironing it.
So how did the shirt perform during this period of grueling tests? ”The shirt stood up to everything I threw at it – whether it was a five mile (8km) run or 72 straight hours of wear during Hurricane Sandy,” Mr Bishop wrote on his website. ”Each day I attempted to wrinkle and odorise the shirt, but to no avail. In a couple of the more intense tests, such as the five mile runs, I was worried that the shirt wouldn’t revive itself. The entire shirt was damp with sweat and soaked in the pits, chest, and collar. I hung it up overnight, said a little prayer, and woke to a fresh shirt in the morning. I’m dead serious.” And he’s not the only one to report these amazing results; Wool & Prince also got extremely positive feedback from 15 testers around the world. One of them told the team: ”I crumpled the shirt into a ball and put it in the bottom of my backpack when I am running around the city just to see if I can ruin it. No luck – it comes out ready to wear every time.”
Enthused by the results Mac launched a fund-raising campaign on Kickstarer in order to start production of the Better b*tton-Down Shirt. They set a goal for $30,000, but today, with 19 days to go until the campaign ends, they’ve already raised $278,000. That inspired them to create some new stretch goals, like “more size options, an extra-slim fit, a classic fit, and other patterns/color choices.” This miracle shirt is due to be launched in December of this year, and while developers are selling it for $98 on Kickstarter, there’s no indication of how much Wool & Prince will charge for the Better b*tton-Down shirt when it lands on retailer shelves. The team doesn’t plan on giving away the secret to their CottonSoft(TM) fabric, but revealed that it is “a combination of superfine worsted yarn, low micron fibers, and a soft weave structure (the way the yarn is woven together)”
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