Do Comfort Colors Shirts Shrink? (and How to Wash Them)

Short answer: barely. Comfort Colors tees are garment-dyed, which means they already went through hot water and a soft wash before they reached you. Here's how much they can still shrink, what "garment-dyed" actually means, and how to wash them so they stay soft and the print stays sharp.

Iron Therapy oversized tee laid flat in a laundry room next to a basket and clothespins — Iron Therapy on laundry day.

Do Comfort Colors shirts shrink?

Very little. The Comfort Colors 1717 is pre-shrunk during the garment-dye and soft-wash process, so most of the shrinking has already happened before it's printed. Washed cold and dried low, it keeps its size. If you wash hot and tumble dry on high, expect up to about half a size, mostly in length.

How you wash and dry	What to expect
Cold wash, hang dry	No noticeable shrinking
Cold wash, tumble dry low	Little to none
Hot wash, tumble dry high	Up to about half a size, mostly length

What does garment-dyed mean?

Most t-shirts are made from fabric that was dyed first and then cut and sewn. A garment-dyed tee is sewn first in undyed cotton and then dyed as a finished shirt. That's what gives Comfort Colors their look:

Pre-shrunk. The dye bath and soft wash shrink the cotton before it ever reaches you.
Soft from day one. The fabric feels broken-in, not stiff.
A vintage, lived-in color. The color settles slightly unevenly into seams and stitching, so every tee looks a little unique. Read more about our color in Comfort Colors Pepper.

How to wash Comfort Colors shirts

Turn it inside out. This protects the print and the color from rubbing.
Wash cold with similar colors. Garment-dyed tees can bleed a little in the first washes, so keep them away from whites.
Use a mild detergent. Skip bleach. Skip fabric softener too; it can coat the cotton and dull the print.
Dry low or hang it. Tumble dry on low, or hang it to dry for the longest life.
Don't iron the print. If you need to, iron inside out on low.

Will the color fade?

A little, and that's part of the charm. Garment-dyed cotton slowly gets softer and slightly lighter, the way a favorite vintage tee does. Washing cold and inside out keeps it even and slows it down.

Should you size up because of shrinking?

Not for shrinking, no. Size up for the look. The 1717 is a relaxed unisex fit: your usual size is relaxed, one size up is oversized, and two sizes up is the pump cover look. Check the measurements in our Comfort Colors 1717 size chart or read what a pump cover is.

Close-up of the Iron Therapy back print on a Pepper Comfort Colors tee — Wash it inside out and the print stays crisp.

FAQ

Do Comfort Colors shirts shrink in the dryer?

Only a little, and only on high heat: up to about half a size, mostly in length. On low heat or hung to dry, they keep their size.

Do Comfort Colors shirts shrink or stretch?

Both, a little. The cotton relaxes and stretches slightly while you wear it, then pulls back to size in the wash. On high heat it can shrink up to about half a size.