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my stuff keeps shrinking
Alexander11
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
All of my clothes always shrink (i am exaggerating ((sp))) and i am fed up with it. My favorate shirt shrunk, is there any way to get it back to it's normal size? I am so frustrated right now none of you would ever beleive it.
Alexander11 on
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Oh man I gotta try that. Most of my favorite shirts shrink in two washes.
You can try washing your shirt in hot water, then stretching it out and letting it dry.
I think lots of clothes will tell you on the tag what drying methods to use in order to avoid this sort of thing.
CUZ THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE AND IT'S GIVING ME A RASH
This is probably the most important part to any washing system.
1. Only wash whites in warm or hot water
2. Don’t dry anything on the highest setting
3. If you are following rules 1 and 2, start checking the labels and don’t buy those brands anymore. The worst offender on the market right now are clothes from American Apparel. American Apparel tends to shrink multiple sizes in just a few washes—don’t buy it!
Woot shirts are from American Apparel, and I usually just wash them in 2 cold cycles and then dry them for about 10 minutes and hang them up to finish drying. I have about 15 and not one has shrunk on me yet.
what.
I wash everything in cold water, and i never have had a shirt shrink on me. I think 95% of my shirts are made by american apparel.
Heres 2 simple steps that will prevent your clothes from shrinking:
1) Wash EVERYTHING in cold. Buy cold water detergent. This will also preserve colors and screenprints.
2) Use the dryer but dont use the super extreme hot setting. Use tumble dry or whatever "low heat" is on your machine.
Coincidentally, someone else has been doing my laundry recently and they wash in warm, 3 of my favorite shirts are now far, far too small to wear. Plus all my blacks are turning grey and my colors are fading to shit, its really fucking annoying. Especially since ive had some of these shirts for 4+ years (since i moved out on my own) and theyve been looking mint that long, and in just a few weeks theyve turned to almost unwearable shit.
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I own a large number of t-shirts and other items (socks, sweaters, etc) from American Apparel, and not once have I had a problem with any of it shrinking. Anecdotal evidence, I know, but so is yours.
So if you barely fit into a medium and you get a medium, and it shrinks, why not just get a large and have it shrink to your medium size? Rather than trying to do all this retarded washing mechanics like cold washing hang dry when only a cool breeze is coming from the south east.
Depends on the shirts. When I hang dry my t-shirts, I can smooth the wrinkles out on the hanger, while the shirt is wet. Dress shirts, however, still need ironing. You can never know until you try it.
This is why my parents always bought me clothes a size too big because it would "shrink when you wash it".
No, doesn't seem to work most of the time.
Buy a different brand. I wash all my clothes in hot water and I have yet to have even one shrink.
edit: specifically, hard water messes with the soap.
Two words: Fabric Softener. You'll wonder how you ever lived without it.
Clothing made out of cotton will pretty much always shrink a bit. The cotton is stretched tight in the weaving process. Later, with application of water and heat (i.e. you wash it in a washing machine) the cotton fibers relax a bit and contract. Hence the shrink.
Tips to minimize:
1) Lower-quality clothing tends to shrink more. That fun POS novelty T from the mall record store? Massive shrink. Buy bigger than you need.
2) Wash clothing in cold water.
3) Air dry > cool temp dry > high temp dry, at least for shrinking.
Once a piece of clothing has shrunk, there's not a lot you can do. Try running it hot in a dryer with some fabric softener sheets. When it comes out, still hot, stretch it as best you can. Then hang in a closet as opposed to folding and putting in a drawer.
Seconding AA clothing not shrinking. American Eagle on the other hand... their shirts shrink and stiffen up after about 10 washes for me.
Conclusion: Use cold water wash, lower heat dry. Damnit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRDx0voZFSw
Works fine for me. I get a large, it's a little too big, I wash, it shrinks.
Then again, I buy mostly cotton clothing. I also don't separate fabrics by their types and colors and wash all my colors with the "color" button instead of "cottons" or "synthetics" or "delicate panties". But, yeah, it will work if you buy cotton clothes and your wardrobe doesn't consist of jogging suits.