What is the hottest temperature that red clothes can be washed at?

Question

I am trying to shrink a red shirt and I want to wash it on as hot as possible, but don't want the color to fade too much. What would be the hottest temperature I could wash the shirt without the colors fading dramatically?

Answer 1

I wash dark colors like that in hot water sometimes, you just have to be sure not to wash any lighter colors with them. If you want to shrink the shirt, I would try drying it in a hot dryer though.  That would shrink it more than washing it will anyway.

Answer 2

First wash with a cup of vinegar in cold water. Dry completely and then wash as normal in as hot as the material will take. There should be a tab inside the shirt that gives you instructions on how to wash. If the color isn't going to bleed it won't matter the temperature. If something is going to color run then it will do it just as well in cold as hot water.

Its usually a hot dryer that does a lot of the shrinking anyway.