Q/A Why do women's blouses cost more than men's shirts?

Question received from customer: I was looking at your price list and am curious why women's shirts are so much more expensive than mens? My shirts are just button up shirts, just like my husbands. If it is because women's shirts are smaller, do youcharge small men more for their shirts? Or do you charge larger women less? In my opinion a button up shirt is a button up shirt. Can you please answer this question?

Answer: There are several reasons why men's laundered shirts cost less than women's blouses. In some instances, cost can be about size, but it's more complex than that.

1. Men's laundered shirts go through a rather strong commercial laundry process meant to remove stains, grease, and body oils that are encountered routinely in wearing. For press, they are placed onto a rather large finishing machine called a shirt buck and pressed flat between 2 large metal steel plates. It presses the cotton and cotton/blend shirts with extreme heat. It blows extremely hot air through the sleeves. It presses from a mans size 15 up to about a 3 xl. Anything outside those size ranges, we have to press by hand, which costs more since it takes about 10 minutes instead of 1 minute. And yes, we charge the customer more because of the time and attention involved.

2. Women's cotton/cotton blend blouses typically are not made like a mans shirt. The care labels almost 100% recommend cold water wash. They are cut differently with curves, not straight. The textiles and factory finishes don't stand up to the hot commercial laundry that men's shirts do. We have to treat for makeup, not body oils. Also, most blouses have darts at a minimum, but are likely to have pleats, ruffles, lace, fancy buttons or accents that cannot be finished on flat equipment. Those blouse features require hand finishing to prevent damage and get the right look. So, start to finish, the process is different with women's blouses.

3. We have experimented placing basic cotton women's blouses on the shirt buck, but have had very limited success. We end up having to redo them. Darts and curvy cuts are the biggest reason. Straight oxfords, no curves with men's style collars work the best as they most closely align to the design of the shirt machine. When that is the case, they are usually tagged in as men's shirts and get that pricing.