Has anyone else had pure acrylic shrink on them?

cazs

I've had 2 different coloured Primark v neck jumpers of the same style shrink in the washer / dryer.
They are 100% acrylic but shrunk signifcantly.
I thought acrylic as a man made fibre (as opposed to known risk of cotton and wool as I understand it) wasn't meant to shrink.
I am getting wary of putting things in for the drying cycle in case it unexpectedly shrinks.
Have been wondering about going for a drying rack with dehumidifier underneath or that Lakeland Dry soon heated airer thing as I've lost quite a few things through them getting shrunk.

teddysmum

Did you check the label for the 'do not tumble dry' symbol ?

cazs

Yes but that goes on pretty much everything as manufacturers just get scared in the same way as the supermarkets put a use-by-date which is some days before it actually needs using so I don't pay the greatest of attention to it. In fact, as I've checked in the last 20 items of clothing I've bought, every single item said No Tumble Dry. So for me pinch of salt.

I acknowledge that theoretcially yes they shouldn't have gone in the dyer due to that symbol but I thought that as it is a man made fabric there wasn't the risk as it didn't shrink as a fabric.That's why I was taken aback.

Southend1

I think acrylic shrinks pretty badly if you tumble dry it. It also needs a very cool iron. I notice a lot of Primark jumpers this year are acrylic, I guess due to cotton price inflation.

cazs

Yes, see everyone says no it doesn't shrink but these shrunk by about 10cm in height, all three (not 2 - typo) of them. I think they were about £8 each so that's £25 that went straight in the bin. I didn't even get to wear them as I always put newly bought clothes through the wash before first wear.

That's why I'm getting really confused about what's actually tumble dry safe as it costs a lot just to throw clothes away all the time...

Southend1

I never tumble dry jumpers. Cotton is ok and cotton polyester blend but anything else I would avoid tumble drying.