Keeping school polos alive until June

The collar is won or lost in the dryer

Pique knit springs back on its own if you let it. High dryer heat is what bakes the curl in. Wash the polos cold, pull them out damp, give the collar one flat smooth with your palm and hang them. Most weeks that replaces ironing entirely.

Stain order of operations

• Scrape first, never rub. Rubbing pushes lunch deeper into the knit.
• Cold water from the back of the fabric, pushing the stain out the way it came in.
• A drop of dish soap on grease spots, ten quiet minutes, then wash.
• Skip chlorine bleach on colors. It wins the stain battle and loses the shirt.

Washing five shirts a week without sorting drama

Uniform polos can all run in one cold load, colors together, inside out. Inside out matters more than people think: the surface that rubs against the drum is the one that pills, so give the drum the side nobody sees.

When a polo is actually done

Fading and a soft collar are cosmetic, and a kid can finish the year in them. Holes at the seam and a collar that will not lie down even damp mean the shirt has served. Move it to the weekend pile and let the school week get a fresh one.