Why do cotton shirts shrink?

Question

Cotton clothes in general, actually. Why is that? There has to be a scientific fact/reason behind it. Anyone help me?

Answer 1

For all types of washing it is always good to read the instructions first, but some cotton will shrink in hot water, and yet i have done some items on a boil wash, and they have t**d out just fine, but then i have had many years experience of washing all types of things, so much so that unless it is something i am not to sure about i will read the instructions, but that is not to often,so when i wash i just do it and don't have to think about it to much.

Answer 2

Most clothes including Cotton are made of plant fibers. The plant fibers are processed, treated, and manufactered. Cotton comes off of a plant, and all plant fibers have a reaction to large amounts of heat. The heat causes the Fibers to shrink, as the fibers shrink, the shirt shrinks. Cotton is suprisingly flexible as well though! The shirt can be stretched out somewhat near or to it's original size. But most of the time this just leaves strange stretch marks lol.

Air drying any cotton material or fabrics as well as washing with Cold / Cold washer cycle will prevent them from shrinking. I know that air drying can be a pain in the butt sometimes. But it's well worth it.

FYI.. Air drying extends the life of the clothes you wear, anywhere from a couple months, to a couple years!

Hope this helps

Answer 3

The heat from the dryer shrivels the cotton (plant) fibers. Try washing and drying cotton in cold water and hang to dry...see what happens.

FYI...Nylon is a type of plastic and when you wash it in hot water or put it in a hot dryer...the plastic fibers melt and, wah la! warped, shrunken clothing!