Maintenance: The Whirlpool Fabric Freshener

The arsenal of home maintenance devices for classic men's clothing has long included steamers and trouser presses. In recent years we've seen two new additions: the steam press and the Whirlpool fabric freshener (pictured to the left). The steam press, which we may cover in a future post if I am ever bold enough to try ironing one of my shirts, is an iron replacement. The fabric freshener is a form of steamer.

The fabric freshener uses steam to relax wrinkles and some ionization magic to remove odors. Insert two garments and some distilled water, turn it on and come back later. In thirty to fifty minutes, most wrinkles will be gone and your clothes will have an unobjectional clean smell. That's both the good and the bad.

Compared to other products, a Jiffy personal series garment steamer does a better job of wrinkle removal on jackets and an iron does better on shirts. Of course, you have to remove the rumples yourself with the Jiffy or an iron. The Whirlpool lets you do something else while it works.

I use the freshener weekly in warm weather for linen trousers in particular. As you know, the knock on linen trousers is that they wrinkle too badly to wear a second day without pressing. The fabric freshener takes care of that - place two pair in the cabinet, turn it on and walk away for forty minutes. It brings them back to about 80% of pressed, which is to say completely wearable, and there's no longer any hint of cigar smoke.

Closed into its storage position the freshener is about a foot deep and 32" long so it stores in a closet or under a sink. It sets up in less than a minute and at 27 lbs. it's easy enough to handle. $199 direct from Whirlpool.