[dead]
Why some clothes shrink in the wash and how to unshrink them
201–210 of 287 posts
Re: Why some clothes shrink in the wash and how to unshrink them
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
Polyester is biodegradable, albeit slowly.
Citation needed.
"Polyesters" is a huge category. PET in plastic bottles is also a polyester, and it can persist for hundreds of years because it's typically in a highly crystalline form that resists fragmentation.
I was talking about polyester fibers. They have multiple orders of magnitude higher surface-area-to-weight ratio.
There are very few good studies of the degradation rate, and they typically focus on bulk products rather than particulates. So we have to rely on indirect evidence, the concentration of nanoplastics near polluted locations typically stays steady rather than keeps increasing. It means that it's in a dynamic equilibrium.
Another data point is lignin. It's a bilogical polymer, but that is not biodegradable in bulk, unless you are a fungus. And fungi don't have some neat enzymes that can degrade it, they just blast it with peroxides. And yes, there are lignin nanoparticles and you can detect them in water. These nanoparticles also don't accumulate and they can be degraded by bacteria because of their high surface area. Even though bacteria can NOT degrade bulk lignin.
Re: Why some clothes shrink in the wash and how to unshrink them
#203Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you have 100% cotton garments you want to get more longevity out of, washing on cold water + letting them air dry is the way to go (although sticking stuff in the dryer for ~5 minutes on the lowest possible setting before putting it on a hanger is fine to help fluff out any wrinkles). This also goes for anything "nice" that you want to keep in the best possible shape, even if it's not 100% cotton--don't forget tha…
Linen typically means flax fibers.
Oh, huh, TIL. I always thought it was a different way of processing cotton... but I just checked my closet and it looks like some of my stuff is a cotton/linen blend, which might be partly why I was confused. And would explain why some items wrinkle worse than others :P
In any case, both cotton and linen get the cold-water treatment from me!
Re: Why some clothes shrink in the wash and how to unshrink them
#204Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have recently started refusing to buy all of this plastic filled clothes. If I see any % of it I don't buy it. Period. I spend much more upfront for clothes, but I gain a lot long term. Clothes don't look terrible after few washings and they tend to last forever.
Why? Polyester (as one plastic based fiber) gets a lot of flack because low quality clothes tend to use it, but polyester can be a fantastic fabric if done right. Durable, fast drying, and can be completely recycled. For example, Patagonia tends to have high quality polyesters and has since the 70s. My experience with their fleece is that I can abuse it and it'll come out unaffected on the other end. Pilling now and…
I used to have Patagonia clothing and even washing them rather gently would leave a quite a bunch of plastic in the washing machine.
I just don't like plastics and try to avoid them as much as possible.
Re: Why some clothes shrink in the wash and how to unshrink them
#205Earlier quoted context omitted.
H&M is awful, but Uniqlo has some great products that will last. I’m a big fan of a few of their t-shirts, especially the heavy cotton tees. You really gotta get your hands on each product to know what’s worth the money though.
Uniqlo does still have some gems, but it's been rapidly enshittifying. My uniqlo clothes from 2019 are incomparable to what they have today. Some of their stuff is still good, but it's a game of roulette every time, because they'll replace products with very similarly branded new versions that suck.
This matches my experience. 2019 was about the last time you could walk into a Uniqlo, grab an item at random and walk out with something reasonable. Just after that we had Covid and the everything bubble which broke a lot of companies. Uniqlo was one of the casualties.
They either had to dramatically increase the price or lower the quality of their stock. It is pretty obvious which choice they made. You get what you pay for.
Re: Why some clothes shrink in the wash and how to unshrink them
#206I'm down to just a few sweat shirts and over shirts from the 80s, but they are hanging in there. Both the colors and the fabric. When the subject comes up with friends who ask about a particular shirt I joke, "The cotton was tougher back then". Recently, I've had jeans, shirts, and even socks that didn't make it through a single summer. Is anyone else freaked out about cleaning their dryer's lint filter given all the…
I have recently started refusing to buy all of this plastic filled clothes. If I see any % of it I don't buy it. Period. I spend much more upfront for clothes, but I gain a lot long term. Clothes don't look terrible after few washings and they tend to last forever.
I’ve been going the same direction lately. We have enough plastic in our environment, the last thing I need is to be wearing it. It’s probably a bit paranoid just from a health perspective, but I’ve found that I genuinely prefer the feel/look of natural fibers.
Re: Why some clothes shrink in the wash and how to unshrink them
#207Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's still good fabrics out there you just have to pay for them. I've mostly replaced my wardrobe now with natural undyed cottons and wools from the likes of "unbleached apparel" and "industry of all nations". There is cotton grown in new mexico, socks spun in north carolina. "Filson" makes a few things in Seattle. Don't skip the stuff made in Peru or India neither.
Do you have any brand recommendations?
Outside of what has been mentioned here (thanks folks for some new brands) I've found clusters in Canada and Portugal of great clothing brands making quality products with good materials:
Canada - Anian (https://anianmfg.com/) for wool products. - Reigning Champ (https://reigningchamp.com/) for cotton tees.
Portugal - La Paz (https://lapaz.pt/) - Isto (https://isto.pt/) - Portugese Flannel (https://www.portugueseflannel.com/)
I also like this site No Man Walks Alone to find quality brands. It is about learning how to spot quality though in stitching and fabrics. Wish there was more educational materials out there on this.
Re: Why some clothes shrink in the wash and how to unshrink them
#208Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you have any brand recommendations?
$.02: - American Giant is pretty good for their pullover hoodies. They'll wear out at the cuffs first, but I've kept a single hoody in use for like five years with some repair stitching. - Standard Issue makes good waffle knit shirts. They'll last a few years depending on how often you wash them. - Duluth Trading makes some good cotton shirts and boxers. Quality has declined slightly, but they're the best plain cotto…
> Carhartt makes some okay dressy dungarees. Their work pants are worthless these days though (in my experience). They've been pivoting to lifestyle for a few years now.
Carhartt are the most durable clothes I own. Whatever Levi’s did, their jeans went from lasting years to literal months before they would rip. Had the same 3 pairs of Carhartt work pants for half a decade with no end in sight.
Maybe something changed between 2020 and 2025, shrug
Re: Why some clothes shrink in the wash and how to unshrink them
#209I'm down to just a few sweat shirts and over shirts from the 80s, but they are hanging in there. Both the colors and the fabric. When the subject comes up with friends who ask about a particular shirt I joke, "The cotton was tougher back then". Recently, I've had jeans, shirts, and even socks that didn't make it through a single summer. Is anyone else freaked out about cleaning their dryer's lint filter given all the…
I can confirm that you really don't want to breathe in any of that crap. A year and a half ago I developed symptoms of what was some form of bronchitis. Lots of mucus, constantly coughing, etc. I was pretty freaking sick. I tend to wait some things like this out, but it wasn't going away so I went to a doctor and got some medications including albuterol and some kind of steroid (prednisone, I think). It got a little…
Also definitely look into ventless dryers - while not as quick as a vented one, the heat pump versions have come a long way from the classic condenser styles of the past.
Re: Why some clothes shrink in the wash and how to unshrink them
#210Wow! Never thought I'd see my little Alma Mater on Hacker News!