# how do you shrink a pre-shrunk shirt?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-shrink-a-pre-shrunk-shirt/29895>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 18, 2000, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-shrink-a-pre-shrunk-shirt/29895 "2000-08-18T19:31:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![vandal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/858c86/32.png) [@vandal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vandal)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2000, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-shrink-a-pre-shrunk-shirt/29895/1 "2000-08-18T19:31:50Z")

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I have this size XXL 100% cotton t-shirt that I would like to wear. Unfortunately, that size is too big on me. I wear a large, sometimes a medium.

The tag says that it is pre-shrunk. But I would like to shrink it, if it’s possible. I haven’t washed it yet, so I’m hoping that this can be done.

So, I call upon the teeming millions.

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**Author:** ![Gravity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gravity/32/14322_2.png) [@Gravity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gravity)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2000, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-shrink-a-pre-shrunk-shirt/29895/2 "2000-08-18T19:33:18Z")

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Try a hot wash, and then a dryer on ‘Hi’

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**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-shrink-a-pre-shrunk-shirt/29895/3 "2000-08-19T02:22:29Z")

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…but don’t expect miracles. I sleep in XXXL cotton t-shirts, and I have yet to see one shrink a whole bunch, even after being washed in hot water and dried on Hot. The manufacturers mean it when they say “pre-shrunk”, because if they sell a t-shirt advertised as “pre-shrunk” and then it shrinks, they’re going to be short one unhappy customer.

You could try turning it inside out and taking in the seams, or get someone else to do it who knows how to sew. But again, don’t expect miracles.

Buy another shirt? Or is the one that Stone Cold Steve Austin autographed?

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**Author:** ![backpack\_joe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@backpack\_joe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/backpack_joe)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-shrink-a-pre-shrunk-shirt/29895/4 "2000-08-19T14:46:53Z")

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Liquid nitrogen, that’s used as a farm fertilizer, shrinks fabric tremendously. I’m sure you could find the right mixture to get the desired effect. A friend of mine shrunk a dollar bill to 25%. Now that looked cool. But I haven’t actually tried doing it to my clothes.

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**Author:** ![FarTreker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@FarTreker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FarTreker)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-shrink-a-pre-shrunk-shirt/29895/5 "2000-08-19T14:51:49Z")

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Boil it for 15 or 20 minutes. That’s how they used to do it years ago. When it cools, put it on and wander around in the hot sun until it drys for a form fit. The old cotton canvass jeans used to be baggy, so people would soak them, put them on and walk around in them until they dried and shrank to fit their bodies.