# What are drip-dry clothes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 9, 2026, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-drip-dry-clothes/1032251 "2026-08-09T17:08:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-drip-dry-clothes/1032251/1 "2026-08-09T17:08:20Z")
I’m reading _Three-Eight Charlie_ by Jerrie Mock, about her 1964 solo flight around the world. She mentions ‘drip-dry clothes’. What are those? Aren’t all clothes drip-dry? I mean, you hang them up, the water drips off and what’s left evaporates? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-drip-dry-clothes/1032251/2 "2026-08-09T17:11:04Z")
Drip-dry was more common in the days before Perma-Press and electric dryers being fairly common. The clothes in question, if hung up, would dry wrinkle-free. I know my Mom had drip-dry clothes bought from places like Alexanders. * * * * * * In the City, we had a washer we shared with the landlord on the ground floor, but clothes went out on a line to dry. So drip-dry at least eliminate one onerous step in cleaning clothes. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-drip-dry-clothes/1032251/3 "2026-08-09T17:15:36Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > The clothes in question, if hung up, would dry wrinkle-free. Thanks. The flight took place in 1964. In the '70s, I heard ‘Perma-Press’. Sounds like Perma-Press supplanted ‘drip-dry’? (Now I’m curious what ‘drip-dry’ clothes actually were. Material, and whatnot.) ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-drip-dry-clothes/1032251/4 "2026-08-09T17:17:53Z")
It was what they called the early generations of synthetics. You know, nylon and polyester and the like. Not only were they more likely to dry wrinkle free just from hanging, like wicking clothes today they would dry much faster. They just didn’t hold water. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-drip-dry-clothes/1032251/5 "2026-08-10T00:56:57Z")
As I recalkl from that era, drip dry was mostly shirts, blouses, and dresses, not pants. They were always something like thin polyester, and they looked kind of cheap. Certainly not like the cotton and wools that “good” clothes were made from. But they dried on a hangar in minutes and they didn’t wrinkle enough to need ironing. In a pinch, my father could wear a drip dry shirt with a suit and tie, as long as he kept his jacket on, but he preferred cotton shirts and would iron them himself. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-drip-dry-clothes/1032251/6 "2026-08-10T01:28:24Z")
The title character in Allan Sherman’s “Bye Bye Blumberg” was a traveling salesman who never traveled without his “Playboy Magazine, drip-dry shirt and Dramamine.” ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-drip-dry-clothes/1032251/7 "2026-08-10T02:19:01Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > But they dried on a **hangar** [Emphasis mine.] Appropriate, considering the book that prompted my question. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-drip-dry-clothes/1032251/8 "2026-08-11T05:04:36Z")
If you hang your drip dry blouse from the tailplane, it will be dry and wrinkle free by the time you land. If it’s still there at all. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-drip-dry-clothes/1032251/9 "2026-08-11T16:33:44Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > If you hang your drip dry blouse from the tailplane, it will be dry and wrinkle free by the time you land. Y’know, I used to just be a bad typist. Now I’m a bad typist who’s also the victim of autocorrect. I’m surprised it wasn’t transformed into “hunger.”