All right Furry... you psychotic!

When you iron the material, what's happening to the individual threads in the weave? They're being SMASHED. Sure that's going to keep them in place for a while... but they're still going to relax and expand through wear and time.

If you steam press the material, it essentially makes the fibres relax into the place where you "lead" them to go. You let gravity and relaxed fibres do the pressing for you! By steaming, you're not beating the pleats into place... but rather coaxing them to behave. It makes for MUCH less wear on the material.

The mitt will only help the really goofy pleats back into place. Certain materials don't respond to steam very well. Acryllics and wools are quite receptive to it and can actually be worked into WONDERFUL shapes. If the hips need to be increased a little due to Thanksgiving over-do's... you can actually "train" the material to expand. Try that with an iron!