(Editor’s Note: HOLY CRAP!!! A weekend review!!! Yes, a weekend review. I figured since many of you visit The Impulsive Buy on the weekend, I should give y’all a review. However, this weekend’s review is going to be slightly different than the normal product reviews The Impulsive Buy does.
I’ve been wanting to broaden the range of reviews, as you will see here. I don’t know if this will be a permanent thing, but I figured I should try it out. Enjoy.)
Okay. Okay. The focus of today’s review isn’t really named Neato Neato Super Super T-Shirt Fold. I gave it that name because I have no idea what its name is or even if it has a name. However, people in Japan tend to give strange names to their products, so I figured I should give a strange name to this unusual Japanese way to fold a t-shirt.
Now that I think about it, because it’s Japanese, I could’ve called it the Origami T-Shirt Fold.
Nah, Neato Neato Super Super T-Shirt Fold is a much better made up name.
Anyway, last week I read about this unorthodox way of folding a t-shirt from the ReadyMade Magazine website. I thought it was relatively unknown, but apparently it was a really popular blogging topic some time last year.
Aaah, just like the Z Cavaricci pants in high school, Quicksilver t-shirts in middle school, and Underoos in elementary school, I was again late to realize what was popular.
So what makes the Neato Neato Super Super T-Shirt Fold so great?
The most noticeable thing is that it’s possibly faster than most normal ways of folding. I think it’s about a whole second faster.
Sure, you may think that’s not much time, but after folding sixty t-shirts, you save a whole minute. Okay, you may think that’s not much time, either. However, if you fold 3,600 t-shirts, you’re going to save a whole hour.
So the next time you get tricked into going to a timeshare meeting and saying when you get out of it, “That’s one hour of my life I’ll never get back.†Well fold 3,600 t-shirts the Neato Neato Super Super T-Shirt Fold way and you will get that hour back.
Now doing the Neato Neato Super Super T-Shirt Fold looks difficult, but it’s quite easy and once you’ve mastered it, Grasshopper, you may consider yourself a Master of the 100% Preshrunk Cotton.
To obtain t-shirt folding enlightenment with the Neato Neato Super Super T-Shirt Fold, just follow these simple steps:
1. Lay shirt face up on a flat surface, like your bed, the floor, or on Kate Moss’ chest. Make sure the shirt is perpendicular to your body, with the sleeves and neck on your left.
2. Pinch the shirt at the shoulder with your left hand and at the middle of the shirt with your right hand, You should pinch both places at the same level.
3. With your left hand, fold the shoulder over your right hand until you reach the bottom hem. With the left hand, pinch the bottom hem at the same level as the other placed you pinched. Now you should have pinched in your left hand the shoulder hem and the bottom hem.
4. Lift the shirt and uncross your hands, pulling the shirt taut. Then shake it like an 8×10 picture.
5. At this point, a sleeve should be sticking out from the bottom. Just fold the shirt over the sleeve and you’re done, unless you did a load of laundry, then repeat steps 1-5.
6. (Optional) Teach the Neato Neato Super Super T-Shirt Fold to others in your family so you aren’t stuck with doing all the frickin’ folding of clothes.
7. (Optional) Trick your children by saying the Neato Neato Super Super T-Shirt Fold is fun to do.
To see the differences between the old way and the new way I fold t-shirts, take a look at this video. (Quicktime required to view video.)
Then criticize both ways I do it, like my mom does.
Item: Neato Neato Super Super T-Shirt Fold
Purchase Price: FREE (T-shirts not included)
Rating: 4 out of 5
Pros: Neato. Neato. Super. Super. Seems quicker than normal folding, which will earn you some extra time in your life.
Cons: May form weird creases in clothing. Extra work needed with long-sleeve shirts.
Wow… That’s pretty cool. I guess the Japanese must have a lot of time on their hands.
wooooooooo, coooooolllll….. but since I’m lazy, I’ll stick with my old technique of “hang the t-shit”.
wow – a man folding laundry. i’m impressed. i think i’ll stick to my method – 1) leave the clothes in the dryer until they are ready to be worn, 2) pre-heat iron while doing make-up. 3) iron selected shirt right before leaving for work.
Oh, cool! I managed to impress my teens with this one!! Thanks!!
Wow, awesome! Too bad I’m not coordinated enough to do either.
Yeah.. everything in my dresser is just balled up and not folded.
I read the directions and watched the video… and I still have no idea how you did that.
Hey Marvo, maybe you could put marshmallows in your ears while you demonstrate the fold to your Mom. It would give her something else to complain about, and you wouldn’t actually have to hear her complain.
Lucy – No, they just try to think of cooler ways to do things and sometimes weirder.
vanou – I don’t like to hang my t-shirts, because just like breasts, I think gravity will make them sag.
Megan – If I separated my socks into pairs and neatly folded by boxers, then you should be impressed.
Jenanne – I hope you taught them how to do it, because I don’t think you want to be folding their clothes forver.
kt – If all my clothes were made out polyester, I would probably do that too.
Mel – It’s MAGIC!!!
Chuck – I don’t know if I could do that, because when I don’t want to hear something, I cover my ears with my hands and say “LALALALA” in a raised voice. So it would be pretty hard to fold something.
I was thinking more along the lines of a conversation like, “That’s a stupid way to fold it! And why on earth do you have marshmallows in your ears!”…and then you could reply, “WHAT? I can’t hear anything, I’ve got marshmallows in my ears!” But the LALALALA thing works also.
Thank You.
I saw this video a while ago…but never understood what she was saying.
Now That I have written directions, Ill be the coolest guy on the block!!!
Chuck – LALALALALA
Damon – I hate to disappoint you, but I’ve learned that being able to fold a shirt this way doesn’t make you cool. It just makes you domesticated.
This is not a tshirt folding method at all, is it? You’re just trying to get me to do the Hokey Pokey. I knew it!
nat – Put your left hand here. Put your right hand there. Then you shake it all about.
I don’t fold T-shirts by either method, and I definitely don’t understand the “Super neato” way. I don’t even lay my shirts out to fold them, I do it in the air. WTF? I’m weird!
Crystal – No, you are a True Master of the 100% Preshrunk Cotton, or you’ve worked at The Gap for several years.
Oh my god, how do you do it so well? I remember trying it out about a year ago and it failed miserably.. let’s just say it would’ve looked better if I didn’t attempt the Neato Neato Super Super T-Shirt Fold (NNSSTF).
Fantastic review as always…
…maybe it’s your inborn Japanese superpowers which allow you to fold with such precision! :(..
akwok – Oh, if only I could use those inborn Japanese superpowers to properly use chopsticks, so I wouldn’t have to embarrass myself by asking for a fork at Japanese restaurants. 🙁
maybe it’s just me, but that seemed REALLY HARD….
“So the next time you get tricked into going to a timeshare meeting and saying when you get out of it, “That’s one hour of my life I’ll never get back.†Well fold 3,600 t-shirts the Neato Neato Super Super T-Shirt Fold way and you will get that hour back.”
your brilliance amazes me, marvo. 🙂
Webmiztris – When I first saw the video, it totally blew my mind and I thought it was really hard too. But with lot of practice, I was able to master the art of the Neato Neato Super Super T-Shirt Fold.
So that’s how it’s done!!! Man, I had to help fold some shirts with a lot of local Japanese folks, and some of them heard about folding shirts this way, but none of us could figure it out (I’m sure some others there knew how though).
Haha!!! Now I know the secret =) and it’s so quick!
Ok are you Freakin Kidding Me?!?!? I have no idea what the hell you just did. I read the directions and I watched the video and it goes so fast I can’t see what you are doing. It’s like it is not even real or something. I don’t know how many more times I can watch it but it is like I can’t stop until I figure it out. Oh well hopefully I will get it at sometime. It looks to cool to give up on!!
akiko – Yup, ONE WHOLE SECOND faster.
Becky – Maybe I should’ve had a slow motion video.
Yes a slow motion video would have been wonderful. I tried to watch the clip over and over and still nothin’!! Oh well I guess I will have to keep with the old fashion way of folding shirts.
This took me a couple of tries to master it last year, when I first saw that video, but once I got it there was no going back. It is definitely the coolest way to fold a t-shirt, if it is possible to have such a thing. I once even got applause demonstrating this at a party. And yes, we were all drunk so if I’d rubbed my belly while patting my head and whistling a tune i would have gotten applause too. I think this says a lot about the quality of the parties I go to.
Becky – Oh wait, the slow motion video would show the CGI I used. 😉
Andrew – Took me about six tries to master it. After I mastered it, I wanted to go to The Gap and fold shirts just to show off.