Shrinkage in new clothes

coffeehound · 3 July 2018 at 6:58PM

A general question please: is it normal for new clothes to shrink?

I've had to discard three M&S work shirts because they shrank so much they no longer fitted. A replacement shirt from TKMaxx then also shrank, though no quite so badly :undecided

Similarly, sweaters and jeans have also gotten smaller over time.

Does it make sense to just buy a size larger now? Thanks

Linda32 · 3 July 2018 at 10:38PM

I know that Salt Rock
shrink if you tumble dry them.

It probably says on the label so it is likely my fault.

For that reason I don't tumble dry Old Guy's Rule just in case.

I don't think I have noticed anything shrinking in the washing machine.

VfM4meplse · 3 July 2018 at 10:51PM

coffeehound wrote: »

A general question please: is it normal for new clothes to shrink?

I've had to discard three M&S work shirts because they shrank so much they no longer fitted.

No, its normal for us to gain weight raapidlly without realising it

If you can hand-on-heart say that you have followed the recommended washing instructions and the garments have still shrunk then I would raise the matter with M&S. The company has always stood for quality, and shrinkage is anything but.

Savvy_Sue · 4 July 2018 at 2:10AM

What temperature are you using?

And what fabrics are these?

moneyistooshorttomention · 4 July 2018 at 6:56AM

VfM4meplse wrote: »

No, its normal for us to gain weight raapidlly without realising it

If you can hand-on-heart say that you have followed the recommended washing instructions and the garments have still shrunk then I would raise the matter with M&S. The company has always stood for quality, and shrinkage is anything but.

M & S quality is nothing like it used to be imo. I've had some awful quality stuff from them recently - to the extent I won't be buying from them again. I could do with an automatic "default shop" to replace them in fact - but I still won't be shopping there again.

The last straw was a pair of slippers in which the sole started coming off one of them after literally only days of wear.

But - I am also wondering just how long after purchase these garments shrank. If OP had only had them literally days - then okay they shrank. But if OP had had them a few months, or maybe even just a few weeks - then I wonder if they have shrunk....one can indeed put on lbs of weight in quite a short period of time. So - if they've only "shrunk" by a size or two - then they probably havent shrunk imo.

A blouse that goes from where one can hang it up and see it's adult size one day, washes it and then hangs it up and sees it's child size the next has shrunk.

lessonlearned · 4 July 2018 at 8:44AM

I've noticed this too. Even bedlinens. I now wash all my bedlinen on a cooler wash and if I use the tumble dryer then I use that on the cooler setting too.

I think in general it's the fabrics they use, often cheap and nasty. I think you're right about M&S, they are not what they used to be. Quality has gone downhill.

Slinky · 4 July 2018 at 9:44AM

I bought some valence sheets off t'internet, they were dragging on the floor beside the bed the first time I put them on. After the first wash they were 4 inches off the floor! A six inch shrink in one 40 degree wash. After 4-5 months of use alternate weeks they'd shrunk so much I could no longer stretch them over the corners of the mattress and they've gone into my 'clean rags' pile to give to Age UK. Buy cheap, pay twice......... however I just couldn't find valenced sheets at any price. Have had to buy a valance for the base and use fitted sheets on the mattress. The new ones from Dorma have held up well.

moneyistooshorttomention · 4 July 2018 at 10:00AM

Not noticed on the sheet front - but one of the things I told myself as I got older was "I'm not going to buy cheap sheets ever again - they wear thin in 2 seconds flat. At my age I'm going to have what I want - or I'll never have it".

So the last sheets I bought are organic cotton pretty "heavy" ones and they're still just as enormous as they were when I bought them and I anticipate they should "see me out". Have still got Marks & Spencers sheets from decades ago (ie before they downgraded the quality) - and they're fine - but I can only use them for old-size double beds (so they're now just for "guest bed" purposes - rather than my own bed).

Personally - I'd say a very rough rule of thumb to see if one is getting the quality of "bygone days" is whether the item costs the equivalent of what it cost back then. If one buys, for instance, a £20 dress from Marks & Spencers these days then it's likely to be poor quality. Imo - I need to spend between £50-£100 (at another shop!) to get normal quality dresses these days.

Slippers, for instance, are another thing I remember where I used to go to M & S and buy sheepskin slippers and pay about £15 for them - so it's not surprising that a £15 pair from them these days (non-sheepskin) is going to be rubbish and I bought my last pair from a Dutch firm on Amazon and think I paid about £50 for them (that's probably not too far different a price to £15 say 20 year ago).

coffeehound · 4 July 2018 at 12:08PM

Agreed that M&S quality has gone down the pan now. I've bought shirts from them for many years but won't shop there again.

These are 100% cotton standard button-down collar shirts at £25 each so not the cheapest. Washed at 40° and dried on a rack. Shrank within just a few washes. I should have taken them back but left it too long.

The TKMaxx one did go in the tumble drier but not on high.

Once buying a shirt from a Pinks in America the assistant said I should buy one collar size larger to allow for shrinkage (and he was right) which is what prompted me to ask the question really -- wondering if it was some rule-of-thumb that everyone else followed.

Slinky · 4 July 2018 at 5:45PM

I've had sweatshirts from Joules shrink and they really aren't cheap. I tend to buy a size larger now.

ETA we wash at 40 and wouldn't tumble dry them.

Zandoni · 12 August 2018 at 6:38AM

I've given up buying M&S pole shirts, I've found that there's a 1 in 3 chance of them shrinking.

If you look at the wash label they double underline the wash symbol which means they should be washed on a delicate cycle. Since I've been buying other brands I've noticed they don't require this delicate wash.

It appears to me they are using either a cheaper material or skipping a pre wash stage to save money.

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Shrinkage in new clothes

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