Why are placket stiffeners important? Because you can wear a casual shirt without a tie and still look spick and span.
I dunno about you, but there are two things that bug me about wearing collared shirts:
- Crinkled collars
- Droopy plackets
While there are many shirts that come with pre-installed collars stays, or have pockets sewn into the underside of the collar tip allowing you to use the collar stay of your choice, most casual button-up shirts I own don’t have either.
Thankfully, there are some more versatile collar stays that not only keep your collars in place, but that you can also use for other style fixes such as a hidden button, keeping your folded sleeves in place, or even using them as a tie-tack alternative.
While these solutions help with the crinkled collar syndrome, they really don’t help you get a perfect, droop-free placket.
Placket Stiffeners
After a lot of searching, I’ve come across two products that will add some perk to your shirt.
Million Dollar Collar
This is truly a “collar stay for your placket” (or a shirt placket stay).
Invented by Rob Kessler, Million Dollar Collar placket stays are essentially thin, lightweight plastic strips that are designed to be installed within your shirt’s placket on both sides.
Once installed, your shirt placket will have more rigidity to it, and it will also help your collar stand more upright.
The placket stays are washer/dryer, iron, and dry-clean safe.
The company states that the placket stay installation only takes 10 minutes and that it can be done by anyone who has basic sewing skills.
If you don’t know anyone like that, you can also take it to a dry cleaner, seamstress, or tailor for installation as well.
Prices for the placket stays start at $3.20/shirt (5-pack), and go down to about $2/shirt (50-pack). Installation charges separately.
Where buy placket stiffeners:
- milliondollar.com (a 5% discount will be automatically applied to your your order)
- Amazon
Without Million Dollar Collar
With Million Dollar Collar
See milliondollarcollar.com for additional details (a 5% discount will be automatically applied to your order).
Perky Collar
Perky Collar takes a slightly different approach to placket petrification.
Its inventor, David Frankel, describes it as a “collar support system”.
Instead of having something installed in the placket itself, Perky Collar is thin “U” shaped piece of clear plastic that wraps around your neck and is discreetly placed under your collar.
Perky Collar Placket Stiffener
How to Use
Before & After Stiffening Plackets
Once applied, Perky Collar helps your placket stay more upright and straight. It also helps your collar sit up a bit straighter.
Perky Collar is removable, so you only need one in your wardrobe.
These placket stiffeners are available for purchase on Amazon (link). Price: $24.95
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Which one is the better of the two
i would recommend million dollar collar if you don’t mind having to install them in your shirts.
other than that, you can also check out stiff collar stay on amazon.
it’s more like perky collar, but not as bulky and a bit more flexible.