I’m gonna be the Debbie downer and mention that no-iron clothes have synthetics in them, the washing of which is a major contributor to the microplastics problem.
I bought an ironing board and an iron when I moved into my current home thinking "yeah, I have some shirts, I'll iron them when I need them".
That was 3 years ago. The ironing board was put into a corner out of sight and the iron is still in its original packaging, unopened to this day. I'm trying to justify my purchase with "better to have it and not need it than the other way around".
I got into sewing so I do use an iron, but even then half the time I'm lazy and don't even press my seams. I'm not very good at sewing as a result, but I have a good time all the same.
But I do like ironing. I do it so infrequently, I associate it with getting all fancied up to go out to a special event.
And everything about it is so relaxing... The sound of the water in the iron, the hiss of steam. That clean smell, rising with the hot steam. You're forced to slow down and pay attention, if you want to get it right.
Whether you're alone or sharing the moment with company, it's a recipe for encoding a core memory, deep in there, pinned in place by multiple senses.
Ironing clothes died long before millennials. Grandma quit ironing before you were born. Wrinkle Free shirts and pants started showing up in the 1970's and were common within the decade.
Ironing is the only time of the week where I have the time to watch TV or movies. Not that I don't have free time, but I usually spend it in other ways. During ironing, I'm a captive audience. That said, I don't iron all that much. I remember the last season of The Boys took me four months to finish...
I, for one, do like to iron. I'd probably not like it if it was mandatory for all clothing though. What really has happened is societal changes leading to much more casual attire expectations (not that we could afford to dress like previous generations) alongside advancements in textile technology that have resulted in garments less likely to show wrinkles.
Unfortunately the kids school uniform needs ironing, and my t-shirts are always way more creased when they dry on the washing line outside than when they've been in the drier.
I have an iron but no ironing board so I used to do it on my desks when trousers were really too wrinkled, but it's been over a year since my desk has had enough room for it, I just don't know where to put the stuff and don't have time for that.
I think what this meme misses is, largely, clothes in the west are now designed to look as if they have been ironed if hung up properly to dry
This is absolutely not a pet peeve of mine that we didn't just stop ironing due to the lack of social convention (brought on by less time in working people's lives and less domestic labour done in the home by women) but by new technology in the area of clothing
Ooops. Millennial here and I often iron my bed sheets. I have a weird ventless washer/dryer combo thing, and no matter how quickly I pull my sheets out or what dryness level I set it to, they come out quite wrinkled. I don't really mind if the main sheet is a bit wrinkly, but it drives me nuts when the top edge gets all folded, and then those folds become permanent creases.
I still have to put up with it a little bit but I made it my life's mission to avoid it as much as possible whilst still being part of mainstream society. I'm so glad that this meme indicates that FINALLY other people are not only not doing it but also denouncing it as much as I have. I've had to hold back on bitching about how stupid and irritating it is because it was always something everyone else seemed to have viewed as a mundane, at worst neutral and at best good aspect of everyday life that wasn't that hard and gave you nice looking clothes. You can't complain at length about something that is considered in those terms because you just come off as a boring crank. But now finally, if only for a moment I can still feel normal whilst embracing my abiding hatred of the pointless and time wasting practice.
FUCK ironing, and especially fuck whatever dipshit came up with it. Before this was invented wrinkled clothes would have to have been but a fact of life. I'm near certain whoever did come up with this was someone who knew they personally would never have had to do it. For centuries it would have been palmed off on the usual people that had to carry out the shitwork and now, in modern times, we didn't jettison the practice along with the sexism and classism that forced some to have to do it and not others, we just made it so that now we all have to do it. It delivers no benefit, it's so fucking stupid aaagghh! Because of the conventions and expectations that formed around it, I'm unfortunately forced to participate in it despite my misgivings, even if only on the bare minimum of occasions. If I have a job interview, or I'm going to a fancy event I have play in to this ridiculous farce that is noticeable only from its absence and help perpetuate it. I sincerely hope this generation really has managed to abolish it and it's only the remnants of my own upbringing and peers that mean I still have to occasionally do it because the world will be objectively better off if no one ever does this again.
I like ironing my clothes though and if you show up to a formal family event with a shirt that looks like you rolled around in it, then I will offer to iron for you before the next time.
My clothes only get wrinkly if I get them wet and then let them dry being all balled up so I never really ironed even though I grew up with it being a thing. The only thing I use an iron for and the only reason I even have one, is for applying those heat-activated designs and patches (though I usually tend to also sew the patches on because that heat glue often suuuuucks).
Man, I iron all the time. I'm not like, ironing underwear like a crazy person, but I have a lot of shirts that would be straight up unacceptable to wear to work without it. It takes like 2 minutes.