I tend to get this question from friends and customers alike. I personally am a huge proponent of cotton and I try to make sure that nearly every shirt I sell is 100% cotton. However, oftentimes customers will order a shirt and run into issues once their shirt has gone through the wash, which is just bad news bears. So, in honoring the loss of our shrunken shirts throughout the years, I compiled a comprehensive list of why shirts tend to shrink.

T-shirts generally shrink for economic reasons. When t-shirt fabric is milled it tends to be stretched in order to save a little bit of fabric off each shirt. It might not sound like much but if you can shave a few square inches off of 100,000 t-shirts the savings are considerable.

When shirts are washed in hot water, the fabric actually settles back into its original shape. The extent to which it shrinks changes from manufacturer to manufacturer. The actual cotton fibers tend to get closer during washing, which is why even pre-shrunk t-shirts tend to shrink the most.

By the way: A shirt that's marked "pre-shrunk" either hasn't been stretched or is boiled in hot water to bring it down closer to its actual size. Both processes cost money and therefore pre-shrunk shirts tend to be more expensive. However, it is always safer to assume that shirts will shrink at some point.

Here's a not-so-fun fact: white shirts tend to shrink more than colored shirts. This is because a black or dark colored shirt has been through a hot dyeing process and has gone through the motions before white shirts, even as they sit on the same shelf rack. Shirts always shrink most in the length, so if you have a long torso it is worth considering moving up a size. Many larger guys have the most issue with shirts shrinking up over their belt buckles.

Synthetic fibers tend to shrink less as well. 100% cotton shirts shrink the most, while polyester shirts hardly shrink at all. The more the synthetic fiber content in a shirt the less it will shrink.

As a rule you can always make a shirt a little smaller but it is very hard to go bigger. Always go for the larger option if you're in between sizes.

Dave out.