How Much Does a 100% Cotton Shirt Shrink in the Dryer

There’s no better feeling than finding a shirt that fits perfectly. However, it happens all too often that you take that shirt home, wash and dry it, and then find that’s shrunk to a less than perfect size. That’s why in this article we’re going to answer the question, how much does a 100% cotton shirt shrink in the dryer.

There’s a straightforward answer and some additional context that we’d like to provide, so feel free to use any of the links below to jump to a specific point in the article, otherwise you can just continue reading into the first section.

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But first, let’s answer your initial question.

How Much Does a 100% Cotton Shirt Shrink in the Dryer

The quick answer is that a 100% cotton shirt will shrink about 20% if it’s left in the dryer for the entire time, normally about 45 minutes. Now, that might not seem helpful because how can you accurately measure 20% in shirt shrinkage. I know I can’t, but, a good rule of thumb is to think about the fit before you put it into the dryer.

If your piece of clothing fits perfectly before washing and drying, then having it shrink 20% will make it too tight or small. In this case, you want to avoid putting it in the dryer at all since even a little shrinkage will cause it to become too tight.

If the fit is a little large, then 20% might make it a better fit. This is where it can become tricky to accurately shrink a cotton t-shirt, but it’s not impossible. Later on in the article, we’ll talk about how to accurately shrink a shirt. Maybe you don’t need 20% shrinkage, but 10% would be nice.

It’s important to know that it’s not just cotton that will shrink in the dryer. So in the next section, we’ll talk about what clothes are most susceptible to shrinking in the dryer. Some materials will shrink more than others, so it’s important to know what will shrink and what won’t. And also what should avoid the dryer completely.

What Clothes Shrink in the Dryer

The quick answer of what clothes will shrink in the dryer is that it depends on the type of material. It’s not so much the type of clothing as the type of material that shrinks in the dryer and more specifically the heat from the dryer.

For example, pants don’t shrink more often than shirts. But cotton will shrink more often than denim. And while some clothes may not shrink, they can be ruined from the dryer, which we will cover in a later section.

Here are the materials that will shrink the most when put in the dryer and should avoid the dryer at all costs, unless you’re going for shrinkage.

Cotton
Linen
Wool
Silk

These types of material are the most susceptible to shrinking from the dryer. When these materials are turned into clothing, they are generally stretchy and there’s not a lot of tension in the fibers. When you add heat, the tension gets stronger and the clothing gets tighter.

That’s a very simplified explanation and there’s a lot of other reactions going on behind the scenes, but that’s the general gist of it and why heat causes clothes to shrink.

In the next section, we’ll talk about not only what materials should avoid the dryer, but other types of clothes that should as well.

What Clothes Should I Not Put in the Dryer

If you’re not worried about shrinkage, there are other reasons to avoid the dryer. Some clothes were not meant for the dryer and can easily get ruined.

For example, suit pants, jackets, dresses, and other formal clothing should normally be omitted from the dryer. That’s why you might see “dry-clean or air-dry only” on the tags.

Also, fancier clothes like Lululemon shouldn’t be put in the dryer because of the damage that the heat can cause. These clothes were not meant for the dryer.

What clothes should I not put in the dryer

A good rule of thumb is that if the piece of clothing is delicate, formal, or expensive, keep it out of the dryer. The best solution for those clothes is either air-dry or dry cleaning.

One other thing to note about what clothes shrink in the dryer is that some clothes won’t shrink, even if they’re made from cotton or another susceptible material. This is because some clothing companies out there will pre-shrink their clothes so this shrinking nonsense becomes a non-issue.

That means the pre-shrunk clothes you try on at the store will be that same size after drying. There will be no shrinkage.

That’s great for preventing shrinking, but you should still avoid putting delicate clothes in the dryer. Even if they are pre-shrunk.

Why Clothes Shrink in the Dryer

Heat. Simple enough, right?

Clothes shrink in the dryer because of the heat the dryer puts out. As mentioned earlier, that heat causes the relaxed fibers to become more tense. And when those fibers become more tense, they become tighter and all of a sudden, your clothes don’t fit anymore.

Contrary to popular belief, it’s not the tumbling around that causes shrinkage. You can still put clothes in the dryer as long as there’s no heat. And most dryers these days have settings for high heat, medium heat, low heat, and no heat at all. These settings are useful for a number of reasons, which we will cover below.

Now that we know why clothes shrink in the dryer, we’ll talk about ways to prevent that from happening. And as you guessed it, we want to avoid the heat and we’ll cover a couple ways to do that.

How to Prevent the Dryer from Shrinking My Clothes

If the material your clothes are made from is susceptible to shrinking, like cotton or linen, then there are two ways to prevent that shrinkage from happening. You can either air-dry your clothes or put them in the dryer without heat. You can also dry-clean, but that’s an entirely separate topic.

Air-Drying Clothes to Prevent Shrinking

The easiest way to prevent your clothes from shrinking is to not put them in the dryer. It’s that simple. No heat, no shrinkage.

Since you can’t put certain types of clothes in the dryer, the best solution is to let them air-dry. You can either lay them on a specialized hanger, hang them up in your closet, or lay them out on something like a ledge or staircase. Or if you live out in the country and have a clothesline, you can have them dry outside too. Just make sure it’s not freezing cold and you don’t leave the clothes out for too long.

How to prevent the dryer from shrinking my clothes

When air-drying, it’s important to let your clothes fully dry before putting them away, since moisture can lead to mold growth. You never want to fold wet pants and stuff them in a drawer. That will lead to something even worse than shrinkage and you might have to throw your pants out entirely. We’ve actually written about mold in the past in quite a few articles and it’s definitely something to avoid.

Typically, 12-24 hours is enough to sufficiently dry any piece of clothing. If it’s a thicker piece of clothing like a hoodie, it might take longer, but just touch the clothing to see when it’s completely dry and can be put away safely.

When laying your clothes out to dry, you want to make sure you can get as much airflow as possible on the clothes. As a result, the best solution is to lay them over open stairs or hang them up. You will want to avoid laying them flat on something like a bed because the clothes won’t get much airflow that way and not to mention the dampness will make your bed damp, which no one wants.

Run the Dryer with No Heat

If you don’t have the patience or space to air-dry your clothes, you can still run them in the dryer without heat. As mentioned earlier, the main cause of shrinking clothes is the heat from the dryer. If you omit the heat, you omit the shrinkage.

However, this isn’t as effective as air-drying. If you’re drying a lot of clothes at once, having them all damp and bumping up against each other isn’t a great way to get them to dry quickly.

We’d really only recommend this if you’re drying 1 or 2 items, they’re nearly dry and just need a tumble in the dryer as a final step.

Now that you know how to prevent dryer shrinkage, in the next section, we’ll switch gears entirely and talk about how you can shrink your shirt if it’s too large, but you’re worried about it shrinking too much.

How Can I Shrink My Shirt in the Dryer

Normally, the best answer is the simplest one. And in this case, the simplest answer is to shrink your shirt in smaller time segments, try it on to see if it fits, and then stop the drying when it fits well.

For example, if your shirt is too big, throw it in the washer as normal, and then put it in the dryer alone. Start the dryer and have it run for 3 minutes. Take the shirt out and try it on, even if it’s a little damp.

You’ll want to see if the shirt fits. If it’s still too large, then put it back in the dryer for another 3 minutes. Repeat this process until the shirt is the size you’d like.

And once the shirt fits perfectly, take it out of the dryer and let it air dry. And never put it back in the dryer.

It’s important to remember that if you ever put the shirt back in the dryer, it will continue to shrink. That means from now on, that shirt is air-dry only.

As mentioned earlier, the heat caused the fibers to become tighter, but they can still become even tighter if left in the dryer for much longer. You want some added tension in the cotton fibers, but not a ton of new tension.

Conclusion

There’s nothing worse than finding a great t-shirt or pair of pants only to have them shrink in the dryer after the first wash. It happens, but we can also take steps to avoid that from happening.

We first answered the question, how much does a 100% cotton shirt shrink in the dryer, which is about 20% of the shirt’s original size.

As you’ve read earlier, cotton is the most susceptible to shrinking, but linen, wool, and silk are a close second. Care should be taken to avoid drying those delicate materials, as well as other types of clothing. Anything formal, expensive, or delicate should avoid the dryer entirely.

The most important thing to remember is that many clothes can and will shrink from the dryer. And it’s not so much the tumbling around, but the heat. So if you can avoid the heat, you can avoid the shrinkage. And you can do that by air-drying your clothes, running the dryer with no heat, or taking them to the dry-cleaner.

In some circumstances, you might see a tag that mentions the clothes are pre-shrunk, meaning you don’t need to worry about shrinkage. However, you should also take care to avoid washing delicate materials., even if you’re not worried about shrinkage. Anything formal or generally expensive, like Lululemon should avoid the dryer.

Finally, if your clothes are too big and you’d like to shrink them, you can do that by putting them in the dryer. Just make sure to run the drying in small segments to avoid too much shrinkage. 3 minute segments should be enough to see some shrinkage, try it on, and determine whether it needs some more time in the dryer.

There are a lot of things to know about drying clothes without damaging them, most of which have been covered in this article. We hope this article has been useful for you and you never again have to worry about ruining a piece of clothing by having it shrink.