Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

T-Shirts Unravelled

threadbase.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 163 posts

Re: T-Shirts Unravelled

#151

Post by jkereako »

andor wrote: post #143
jkereako wrote: post #131

Good stuff. I'm interested to see data on other cotton garments, particularly buttondown shirts. Cotton is just a lousy fiber. On the other hand, wool is a strong and resilient fiber. It also never needs to be washed provided it isn't stained. My wife knit a wool sweater for a close friend of mine who spent 6 months as a bosun on the tallship the Lady Washington (the Interceptor in the Pirates of the Caribbean). Fres…

"Cotton is just a lousy fiber. On the other hand, wool is a strong and resilient fiber. It also never needs to be washed provided it isn't stained." You're mixing things up. Cotton is stronger than wool, cotton shirts last many years longer than wool shirts. It's less noticeable with sweaters simply because their fabric is thicker. On the other hand, wool can be more comfortable to wear because it retains more heat a…

> You're mixing things up. Cotton is stronger than wool

Turns out cotton is actually stronger than wool. I suspected that since all my cotton shirts are perpetually wrinkled the fibers are weak.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:bZuKb5...

Re: T-Shirts Unravelled

#152

Post by taejo »

mikestew wrote: post #56
stickfigure wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't answer the question, which is an interesting one. Where in the dry cycle does shrinkage occur? If you dry on hot to slightly damp, do you get the same level of shrinkage as cool to fully dry? If so, why haven't I ever seen a dryer that starts hot and transitions to cool as the clothes dry out?

If so, why haven't I ever seen a dryer that starts hot and transitions to cool as the clothes dry out? I'm pretty sure that all of the three dryers we've had in the last twenty years had a permanent press setting that does exactly that. Our current one certainly does, and it's just the front-loader that was on sale at Home Depot, nothing fancy.

But they call it "permanent press" so those of us who didn't study domestic science don't know what it does ;)

Thanks for explaining something I was always curious about in the laundry room but forgot about by the time I reached a computer.

Re: T-Shirts Unravelled

#153

Post by gaius »

coldtea wrote: post #146
untog wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh I assure you, mid life crises are a thing.

Sure they are, but don't they opt for the "nice car", "younger girlfriend", etc? I don't see many 45yo people wearing 20yo clothing -- there are some of course, but not that many to be a "phenomenon" one would notice.

A Superdry jacket is the new combover.

Re: T-Shirts Unravelled

#154

Post by sjwright »

trystero wrote: post #133
johansch wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A similar hack I learned to avoid ironing: Just before hanging them, while they are still wet: Grab each t-shirt from the top with both hands, then do a couple of violent whip-like movements. This has the same effect of stretching the fabric so that no ironing is needed.

Do you want to sprinkle water everywhere? Because that's how you prinkle water everywhere.

Only if you have a rubbish washing machine that spits out very wet clothes. Mine is a front loading ASKO which spins the clothes to the point of being touch dry. I give each t-shirt a whip-shake and dry them in a cool tumble dryer.

Re: T-Shirts Unravelled

#155

Post by mcv »

Interesting data! I remember the excessively short/wide t-shirts well from my early university days, when I still took my laundry to my parents who had a dryer. Now I dry my clothes on a line, and they don't seem to deform so much.

Re: T-Shirts Unravelled

#156

Post by phyllostachys »

johansch wrote: post #84
jakub_g wrote: post #75

I feel obliged to share a lifehack my mother taught me regarding the laundry. After removing the laundry, take your t-shirts and stretch them yourself, one by one, when they're still slightly wet. Grab them with two hands symmetrically, stretch horizontally, moving your hands down along the shirt. Do the same vertically, and with the sleeves. Do not use a machine dryer, just a regular standing dryer like [1]. Put you…

A similar hack I learned to avoid ironing: Just before hanging them, while they are still wet: Grab each t-shirt from the top with both hands, then do a couple of violent whip-like movements. This has the same effect of stretching the fabric so that no ironing is needed.

If you do it right, you can get a nice crack sound. I've found that I can usually get at one from a freshly washed item of clothing (and towels) and it only cracks once per fresh wash. I don't understand the mechanism that causes it but find it satisfying for some reason.

Re: T-Shirts Unravelled

#157

Post by phyllostachys »

UnoriginalGuy wrote: post #41
specialist wrote: post #40

This is a great resource, thank you. Being tall with a long torso, trial and error buying t-shirts has been torturous and expensive.

Ditto. Then you finally find a shirt which is just the "right" length at the store, and three washes later and it is too short... But you cannot buy the next size up since you need more LENGTH not shoulder width. Very few brands make t-shirts which are 2x-tall (as opposed to 2x-large, where both the length AND width increases). A medium-2xtall would be like the unicorn of t-shirts. The sizes should be: S, M, L, 2x, 3…

This is how military utility uniforms are sized: Small, Medium, Large and Short, Regular, Tall. I'm surprised that idea hasn't spread into mainstream sizing.

Re: T-Shirts Unravelled

#158

Post by mikestew »

taejo wrote: post #152
mikestew wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If so, why haven't I ever seen a dryer that starts hot and transitions to cool as the clothes dry out? I'm pretty sure that all of the three dryers we've had in the last twenty years had a permanent press setting that does exactly that. Our current one certainly does, and it's just the front-loader that was on sale at Home Depot, nothing fancy.

But they call it "permanent press" so those of us who didn't study domestic science don't know what it does ;) Thanks for explaining something I was always curious about in the laundry room but forgot about by the time I reached a computer.

But they call it "permanent press" so those of us who didn't study domestic science don't know what it does ;)

Yeah, fair enough. Come to think of it, I don't even know why I know this. Our current dryer has something on the display that says something to that affect, but our previous ones were old school analog dials without explanatory text, yet I always knew that "permanent press" meant it starts out hot and ends cool so the clothes don't wrinkle.

Re: T-Shirts Unravelled

#159

Post by kazinator »

nextos wrote: post #8

It's pretty well known that tees made using 1920s-era loopwheeling machines don't suffer from size changes, and age really well. But sadly these are now super expensive, and only offered by Japanese niche brands who bought machinery from American corps.

Which niche brands use loopwheeling? Going to Japan soon; maybe will pick up a few tees.

A search for ループウィール turns up some hits, like the Barns brand.

Re: T-Shirts Unravelled

#160

Post by mikemac »

kazinator wrote: post #159
nextos wrote: post #8

It's pretty well known that tees made using 1920s-era loopwheeling machines don't suffer from size changes, and age really well. But sadly these are now super expensive, and only offered by Japanese niche brands who bought machinery from American corps.

Which niche brands use loopwheeling? Going to Japan soon; maybe will pick up a few tees. A search for ループウィール turns up some hits, like the Barns brand.

strike gold would be a good brand to start with. they're available in the US but you definitely pay a premium
Post reply on HN