Clothes: - How to look after your Garments' Raiment, Togs Apparel, Gear etc. etc

Body Odor Smells I have found that to remove body odor from the armpits of my husband's long sleeve running shirts and Under Armor winter athletic wear, I pre-soak the armpits in vinegar before washing normally. Doesn't seem to discolor them, and they do smell much better!  Loved your site! Great ideas.-- J Marcum    28 Aug 2005

Removing Rust Stains on Clothing. Hey, I just found a great new stain remover...ZAP (tile/grout restorer). I tried to get a rust stain off of a white fairly new/expensive dress shirt of Jamie's (cotton/poly). I tried bleach, dishwasher detergent, lemon juice/salt, the usual...but NOTHING would budge that stain. ZAP claims to remove rust stains from showers so I thought what did I have to lose? I was going to toss the shirt anyway so if it ate a hole or stained it more it wouldn't matter. I sprayed some on, worked it into the stain, waited about 30 secs and then rinsed. Whah-lah...no more stain and no hole! -- Jamie and Wendy Reynolds - Granite Bay, California USA 28 Nov 2007

When replacing a button on an article of clothing, use dental floss to sew it on. Dental floss is almost impossible to break and I guarantee that button will never come off again. -- Jeannie Gabriel 28 Jan 2005

Shoes

SILICON FLUID. Make your shoes last much longer and enjoy better foot comfort than most people by softening the leather with products containing silicon fluid. There are many shoe care products but in my opinion none are better than the ones containing a high proportion of silicon polymers.

DRYING WET LEATHER OR SUEDE SHOES. They should be dried slowly at room temperature. Stuff with newspaper to soak up the excess moisture and help to keep them in shape. Never be tempted to dry shoes on a radiator or in front of a fire.

DIFFERENT SHOES EVERY DAY. Alternate them daily, this will allow them to dry out completely helping prevent foot infections. This is especially important with new shoes. I am not sure why but for some reason it does give them a much longer life. ... Oh and they smell nicer -- J Jacobs

MAINTENANCE. Your local shoemaker can save you money and discomfort if you get your shoes to him before the small problem gets serious - Lucas Vauxhall

Bootlace ferrules: If your shoe laces are too long or the ferrules at the end have come off put heatshrink sleeving over them at the right length and cut. -- Mark Bartlett  Nissan Technology Center UK --

Bootlace Ferrules for Laces. Your friendly electronic technician should be able to get some for you if not Maplins or Radio Shack will stock it. Heatshrink sleeving can be useful in other applications - Marc Novak Edinburgh

If you need to convert between American, British and European clothes and shoe sizes use our clothes conversion chart