Hawaiian Shirt Shrinkage
Test (100% cotton)
One of the
most common questions we are asked is how much a Hawaiian
shirt will shrink after it goes through the washer and
dryer. Well, like many things in life, it depends. To find
out for sure, we decided to run a test with a 100% cotton
shirt, since that's one of our our most popular items. The
care instructions on the shirt says to machine wash in cold
water, tumble dry cool, and cool iron.
So we took
one of our standard 100% cotton Hawaiian shirts and threw in
in the wash with cold water. Although the instructions says
to tumble dry cool, we didn't want to be waiting around
forever for this to dry so we dried it on low heat. And
since the shirt was a little wrinkled coming out of the
dryer, we decided to just iron at regular heat so we could
steam out the wrinkles. We wanted this test to be as
real-world as possible.
We measured
the length, chest width, and shoulder width before and after
washing/drying/ironing. The only dimension that changed
noticeably was the length. Before washing the shirt, the
shirt had a top-to-bottom length of 31 inches. After washing
the length measured 30 inches. This actually confirms the
manufacturer's prediction that the shirt would shrink about
an inch in length.
But what
about the other dimensions? Well, to our surprise, both the
chest and shoulder measurements did not change measurably.
Again, this confirms what the manufacturer told us before
hand.
We also did
a subjective before and after fit test on one of our
friends. He said the shirt felt pretty much the same before
and after the test.
So that
sums up this initial shrinkage test. We will follow this up
with similar tests on other shirts from different
manufacturers, including rayon shirts, and also different
styles of dresses. For now, at least for this particular
shirt, it appears that after washing, drying, and ironing,
only the length of the shirt changes appreciably. So unless
a 1-inch shrinkage in the length of the shirt is important
to you, this Hawaiian shirt should fit you just about the
same before and after you wash it.
| BEFORE |
AFTER |
Length = 31 inches |
Length = 30 inches
(1 inch shrinkage) |
Chest = 46 inches |
Chest = 46 inches
(no shrinkage) |
Shoulders = 20 inches |
Shoulders = 20 inches
(no shrinkage) |
|
