Pressed & Impressed

Just about the biggest thing to hit the clothing industry since nylon has turned out to be durable press -- a wrinkleproof, permanent-crease process that permits clothes to be taken out of the dryer and worn without a touch of the iron. First introduced in men's slacks two years ago, the process has had a runaway success: it is now being applied to shirts, skirts, sheets and lingerie.

San Francisco's Koratron Co. Inc. (TIME, Dec. 17), which last year produced 170 million pairs of treated trousers, this year aims at 210 million. At J.C. Penney's 1,700 stores, 95% of the trousers and more than 50% of shirts, dresses and skirts are durable press. Sears, Roebuck & Co. reports that the new process accounts for more than 80% of men's slacks sales. Koret of California says that it outsells traditional women's clothes 2 to 1 .

Main resistance at first came from housewives, disillusioned by earlier wash-and-wear claims that fell flat. But as word-of-mouth recommendations spread, sales soared across the country. Says Levi Strauss & Co. President Walter Haas Jr., who is selling products on an allotment basis: "The demand is be yond our capacity." Arrow, Manhattan and Van Heusen shirts have converted the majority of their line. On U.S. campuses, undergraduates who proudly used to wear their chinos wrinkled from the local Laundromat are now coming to class well creased. Says one Midwestern college administrator with satisfaction: "Now they can't look sloppy, no matter how hard they try."

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