Getting a mission call is exciting — and then the packing list shows up, and one of the first questions every missionary and every missionary mom asks is some version of: how many shirts do I actually need?
There's no single official number, because it depends on climate, how often you'll have access to laundry, and how the mission itself operates. But there's a practical way to think about it instead of guessing.
Start with your laundry cycle, not a fixed number
Most missionaries do laundry once a week. If you're washing weekly, you want enough shirts to comfortably get through 7 days without repeating too often or running out before wash day — which usually means somewhere between 5 and 7 shirts as a baseline. If you're heading somewhere with less predictable laundry access, or a climate that means more sweating and more frequent changes, it's worth padding that number by a shirt or two.
Climate changes the math more than people expect
A mission in a hot, humid climate means shirts get worn hard — heavier sweating, more frequent changes some days, and fabric that needs to actually recover overnight rather than come out of the wash still damp. A cold-climate mission is gentler on shirts day-to-day, but you're also layering more, so fit and stretch matter more than sheer quantity.
Quality matters more than quantity
This is the part that trips a lot of people up: buying 10 cheap shirts that wear out, yellow, or need constant ironing by month six is worse than buying 7 shirts built to actually last two years. A missionary is wearing these shirts nearly every day, for years, through service projects, tracting, sitting in un-air-conditioned rooms, and everything in between. Fabric that holds its shape and doesn't need ironing between wears saves real time and frustration on a schedule that doesn't leave much room for either.
A reasonable starting point
5–6 shirts for a moderate climate with weekly laundry access. 7–8 shirts for a hot/humid climate or less predictable laundry access. 1–2 extra "backup" shirts kept in reserve in case of stains, tears, or unexpected delays getting to a laundromat.
The honest answer is that most missionaries end up somewhere in the 6–8 shirt range, but the shirts themselves matter more than hitting an exact number. A shirt that holds its shape, resists wrinkles, and doesn't need to be babied through the wash means fewer shirts do more work.
That's exactly what HAYDENSMITH CO shirts were built for — a knitted jersey cotton shirt with 4-way stretch and a wrinkle-resistant finish, made to handle a full day on your feet. It'll come out of a suitcase creased, like anything does — but put it on, give it a few minutes of body heat, and the creases drop out on their own. Check out our shirts: https://haydensmithco.com/