# Dry cleaning pant/jacket combinations **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 7, 2013, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-cleaning-pant-jacket-combinations/646378 "2013-01-07T18:53:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-cleaning-pant-jacket-combinations/646378/1 "2013-01-07T18:53:29Z")
I have a couple of jackets and a number of tailored pants bought with the jackets. For each jacket, I have one pair of matching slacks. I wear the pants far more often (daily) than the jackets (monthly, at best). However, my wife insists than when I dry-clean the pants, I must take the jackets in as well, as to not mismatch the colors (apparently, the DC process fades the coloring, so the idea is that if I take the slacks and not the jackets, the pants will end up shades lighter than the jackets.) Well, I’m tired of paying $12.95 to clean already-clean jackets. So, I ask those in the know - is my wife right, or am I wasting money (or both)? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-cleaning-pant-jacket-combinations/646378/2 "2013-01-07T23:10:58Z")
Of course your wife is right. Seriously, though, this is why suits used to be sold with two sets of pants. And it’s also why sports jackets exist. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-cleaning-pant-jacket-combinations/646378/3 "2013-01-08T00:44:37Z")
True, but regardless of whether I buy a sports jacket, it still remains that I must clean the suit jacket if I wear the slacks that match. ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-cleaning-pant-jacket-combinations/646378/4 "2013-01-08T00:46:46Z")
Your wife is 100% right. I wear a suit every day and as such I now buy 4 pants to one jacket for the very reason you outline. It’s great I have two different suits I wear every day and as I only wear each pair of pants once a fortnight I can not go to the drycleaners for months! So yes repeat after me “my wife is right [always]” ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-cleaning-pant-jacket-combinations/646378/5 "2013-01-08T00:49:28Z")
double post ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-cleaning-pant-jacket-combinations/646378/6 "2013-01-08T00:49:35Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > True, but regardless of whether I buy a sports jacket, it still remains that I must clean the suit jacket if I wear the slacks that match. Yep. Every time I go to a fancy 'do on base I’m appalled by the light blue pants and dark blue jackets I see airmen in. Don’t think of it as cleaning a clean thing, think of it as ‘fading the material’ of a clean thing. There, isn’t that better? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-cleaning-pant-jacket-combinations/646378/7 "2013-01-08T15:21:33Z")
Well, my problem is thinking of it as a “I gotta spend $13+ because the dry-cleaning process(es) apparently suck” thing. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-cleaning-pant-jacket-combinations/646378/8 "2013-01-08T16:13:19Z")
If you’re not wearing a suit jacket every day, why not just buy and wear dress slacks separate from the suit set? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-cleaning-pant-jacket-combinations/646378/9 "2013-01-08T16:14:29Z")
If you rarely wear both the pants and the jacket , then why buy them in combinations? For example, I have one black suit (pants and matching jacket)and I essentially always wear both pieces together . I also have entirely separate pairs of black pants which are worn with various non-black jackets/sweaters or no jacket at all, which completely avoids problem of the cleaning an unworn jacket so it matches the pants. And I think the idea of the sports jacket was that you would wear the jacket with pants other than your suit pants-for example, a navy jacket with tan pants.Theres no fading to match as they don’t match to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-cleaning-pant-jacket-combinations/646378/10 "2013-01-08T16:29:42Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Well, my problem is thinking of it as a “I gotta spend $13+ because the dry-cleaning process(es) apparently suck” thing. 😉 It’s not actually to do with the dry-cleaning process in particular but with cleaning your clothes. The same thing applies to regular clothes washing, too. If you wash a 2 piece outfit in the regular wash, you want to wash both together to fade them the same. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > If you’re not wearing a suit jacket every day, why not just buy and wear dress slacks separate from the suit set? Yeah, this is the real solution. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-cleaning-pant-jacket-combinations/646378/11 "2013-01-08T17:16:40Z")
If you wear suits a lot, have them dry cleaned frequently, then it would make a difference over time. But a couple of more cleanings for the pants than the jacket isn’t going to make a noticeable difference. As for mismatched suit jackets and pants, I’d do that without hesitation because I don’t care, but I think the fashion mavens say you never do that. Suit jackets are cut and padded to have a particular look that wouldn’t be right with mis-matched pants. But as I said, I don’t care. Only for a brief period have I owned more than one suit combo. If I have to get dressed up I prefer a sports jacket and whatever pants my wife says don’t look horrible with it.