Non-iron Shirts – Now That’s Music To Our Ears!

If you’ve got your finger on the pulse of fashion in South Africa, then you will have heard that Banana Republic has officially opened two stand-alone stores in SA. Last week Friday was the launch of the newest store in Joburg and saw Banana Republic launch a super swanky store at the chic, fashion-forward Sandton City. But what we here at MenStuff are most excited about is the fact that they’ve brought non-iron shirts into the country – seriously, could there be anything better?

These non-iron shirts are pretty much the best thing to happen to men in SA since the launch of the George Foreman Grill, because let’s be honest, ironing is pretty much the bane of every man’s existence. Every morning our girlfriends, wives and co-workers smugly put on their crease-free dresses, blouses and skirts without so much as a glance at the iron, while we men suffer through having to wake up at least 10 minutes earlier to straighten out that day’s work shirt.

Luckily for us, Banana Republic has declared that enough is enough and so introduced what can only be referred to as ‘the greatest new invention of our lifetime’ – the slim-fit, non-iron shirt. The shirt will set you back about R1,000 each, but that is a small price to pay for an extra 10 minutes in bed and a life free of the chore of ironing.

But it doesn’t stop there – the new Banana Republic stores are pretty much a haven for long-suffering fashion-conscious men. The new Joburg store is huge and the men’s section takes up HALF the store. That is unheard of here in South Africa where female shoppers are usually thought of as king.

We are tired of walking into stores where 90 percent of the store is women’s clothes and men are left with one lonely rack filled with graffiti-print shirts (seriously who are they making these for), hipster pants and humorous novelty T-shirts (a man can only buy so many shirts with beer jokes printed on the front). Banana Republic’s racks and shelves are filled with everything from great quality suits, formal shirts and shoes to casual jeans, chinos, t-shirts and jackets.

You can expect to pay a bit of a premium for this stuff, but if you are looking for something interesting and different from the usual nonsense that is forced upon us at other retailers, then Banana Republic is worth a visit. Check out the stores at Cavendish Square in Claremont, Cape Town and Sandton City in Sandton, Johannesburg.