Spreadshirt Testlab #01: The American Apparel shrinking test

8 Pounds. That´s the price difference between our least expensive t-shirt - the “B&C Comfort T” - and our premium shirt from American Apparel.

8 Pounds for what? For the US-based hipster brand putting half-nacked women´s backs and hairy men´s chests on the back of shiny magazines? Well, to a certain extent. For AA paying its production workers relatively high wages? Yep, that, too.

But at the end of the day it´s the difference in quality (fabric and cut) that causes the difference in the prices. At least that´s what we were told

In order to find out how good the AA shirts actually are, we went to our Spreadshirt Testlab for the very first time. Markus, a guy from production, took a bunch of black AA tees, washed time up to 20 times and checked how the lengths of the shirts, the lengths of the sleeves, the chest and the waist widths developed.

It´s a nice side-effect of the shrinking test, that one can also see how the color and the fabric change by time.

Here´s the highly scientifical setup:

• Products: American Apparel Men´s shirts
• Exact product name: AA 2001 Fine Jersey Short Sleeve T-Shirt
• Color: black
• Sizes: S to XXL
• 1 regular washing machine
• middle-class washing powder
• 1 special shirt measuring tape
• 20 washes
• measuring-sessions after 5, 10 and 20 washes

and the findings:

Length

• in average, the shirts got 1,02 inches shorter - the XL-shirt performed best and only lost 0,39 inches
• overall it showed that small sizes lost more in length (ca. 1,18 inches) than big sizes (ca. 0,59 inches)
• result: it lost about -3,5%

Chest Width

• on average, the shirts got about 0,75 inches tighter
• for the chest width as well, Ss and Ms lost more width (ca. 1,18 inches) than their HipHop listening big brothers (ca. 0,39 inches)
• result: it lost about -3,7%

Waist Width

• the shirts lost ca. 0,87 inches waist width in average
• the average loss for small and medium lag was 1,06 inches and 0,59 inches for XL and XXL
• result: it lost about -4,0%

Sleeve Length

• the sleeve lengths were the most stable measurements in the test - in average, the shirts lost only 0,28 inches in sleeve length
• the effect was a little stronger for the big shirts (ca. 0,39 inches) than it was for the smaller ones (ca. 0,2 inches)
• result: it lost about -3,2%

Wrap-Up: Size

• see an AA shirt (large) worn by me (size: 6.1 feet)
• after 0, 5, 10 and 20 washes

Development of Color and Fabric

• saturation gets a little lower
• fabric gets a little linty

Conclusion

When it comes to shrinking, the AA shirts couldn´t totally satisfy my expectations. Especially when buying smaller sizes - depending on how one wants the shirts to fit - one should think about going for a larger shirt as the shirts come relatively fitted anyway.

However, what I found to be very positive is that the shirts overall shape stays stable. While you find other shirts to look like “As” or “Us” after several washes, the AA keeps looking like a “T”. Also the collar - generally an Achilles heel of blank shirts, doesn´t lose shape.

The intensity of the black gets a little lower which I guess is a very common effect which could maybe be reduced by using better washing powder.

Or what are your experiences?