Help, all my clothes seem to shrink!

silkcutblue

Cotton (shirts, tees, etc): Cheaper clothes are often not pre-shrunk as it costs the manufacturer money to wash and dry them - then press for sale.

Acrylic and man made - tends to shrink a little bit but bobble - although the static electric produced could power your house.

Wool - gosh, this stuff can ballon in size if you dry it badly or overspin.

Jeans - you can tell the off cuts used if one leg of the jeans twists slightly.

John_Clare

silkcutblue wrote: »

Cotton (shirts, tees, etc): Cheaper clothes are often not pre-shrunk as it costs the manufacturer money to wash and dry them - then press for sale.

Ahhh..... this makes a lot of sense. I think this may be it!

So, looks like I just need to spend more on clothes. I guess cheap clothes are false economy!

John_Clare

It seems to be the cotton stuff that shrinks the most.

Acrylic/Polyester stuff seems fine!

Kaz64_2

Like a few have said here, when buying from Primark, you need to buy a couple of sizes bigger. Firstly, their sizing is a little skimpy to begin with, and then of course there is the shrinkage. I don't tumble dry any t shirts now for fear of shrinkage. Was majorly cheesed off when my son's white school t shirts from M&S shrank, even though they claim to be tumble driable! The best ones of those that I got were from Quality Seconds. They have really stood up to the punishment he gives them!

littlewren

jenniewb wrote: »

I don't tend to find my clothes shink as much as lose their elasticiy- they just dont "fit" anymore after about 2 or 3 washes.

OP I hate to say this, but the other examples you mention are not really that much better quality wise (seriously, I studied textiles, it is something I notice when buying stuff).
It could be your washing machine is malfunctioning, but it could also be that the quality of your clothes needs to change if you need stuff to last longer then 1 wash. M&S are somewhere that generally sell quality stuff (some is some isn't you can normally tell by feeling it) and jeans that are around the £50 plus (Levis) mark tend to work out ok the ones cheaper then this (: River Island, Topshop, Republic, Primark for example) tend not to wash well and they stretch way more then ok throughout a days wear. (My cheaper jeans will change around 2 inches in 24 hours!!).

I know what you mean about the elasticity, I bought some jeans from the catalogue that were stretchy and they fit great until they were washed and now they keep slipping down and I have to hoist them up - not impressed. :mad:

littlewren

silkcutblue wrote: »

Jeans - you can tell the off cuts used if one leg of the jeans twists slightly.

That's interesting, I have two pairs of cheap jeans where on one leg the material is slightly twisted and doesn't look right.

muchus

My clothes shrink all the time. It's got nothing to do with all the junk food I eat.

jenniewb

Just a tip here- I generally find that stuff I get from TK Maxx tends to be ok- but you do really have to wade through alot and know which brands to look for (ie you can get some expensive brands which are still very cheaply made and unfortunately the same shrinkage/losing stretch problem will occur) can be a bit hit and miss but if you keep trying, you begin to notice good/bad quality just by the feel without needing to experiment

Try not to get sucked in by softer feeling clothes- unless they are made with softer yarns such as cashmere and certain types of silk as they often have silicons and man made stuff woven in- this stuff often has shorter fibers (a length of yarn is basically lots of shorter fibers all spun together to make a length to sew/weave/knit with) and the shorter the fibers, the more hideously it will bobble and lose its shape.

Fire_Fox

How hot is your water? If the washing machine is both hot and cold feed you may find the water is going into the machine at higher than 30C. I also find pure cottons shink or stretch much more than man-made fibres or cotton/ lycra mixes.

If you have washed something according to the temperature on the label, and used the appropriate spin cycle and it has shrunk noticably then return it to the shop.

budgetboy_2

Its my dryer that gets all my clothes. I dont put them in but someone in my house always puts my clothes in the dryer! Then they come out of it about half the size they were when they went in!