Testlab#2 - Do organic shirts shrink more than regular shirts?

Demand for organic Shirts is on the rise. That’s what our numbers say. And we are glad they say so – organic cotton is a good thing! No pesticides are used, they are good for the soil. But the question is: can they compete with regular shirts? Or will they shrink beyond recognition? That’s what we asked our colleagues over at the test lab.

Welcome to the Spreadshirt testlab! True, the room looks a little, ah, functional. No frills here. Just a washing machine, operated by two dedicated specialists, production workers Markus and Lars. What they do here with scientific vigor, seems like a housewife’s nightmare: incessant washing. They put shirts in the machine and see how they like being washed up to 100 times. Some don’t, to be sure, and those are kindly asked to leave Spreadshirt’s assortment.

Their most recent commission: please launder the Spreadshirt organics collection by suppliers American Apparel and Continental Clothing. Luckily, they were able to test those alongside corresponding regular shirts of both suppliers. This way we could compare results directly. Washed twenty times, at 30 degrees Celsius (86°Fahrenheit).

Their overall results (spoiler warning!):

THERE IS NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORGANIC SHIRTS AND REGULAR SHIRTS AS FAR AS WASH RESISTANCE IS CONCERNED!

To find out, Markus and Lars measured shirts before and after, with the following parameters:

Sleeve Length, Bottom Width, Chest Width, Collar Width and Shirt Length

The average changes they recorded after 20 washings are as follows:

Continental Classic Girlie white: 7.7%

Continental Classic Girlie Organic white: 5.3%

Hard to believe: the organic shirt performs even better than the regular one.

American Apparel (“Fine Jersey Short Sleeve T-Shirt“) black: 4.16%

American Apparel Sustainable Edition black: 3.1%

2:0 for Organics…

American Apparel (“Fine Jersey Short Sleeve T-Shirt“): 2.48%

American Apparel Sustainable Edition Galaxy: 5.82%

Regulars catching up: 2:1!

American Apparel Sustainable Natural White: 10.46%

Maverick behaviour here. Even the collar grew a little wider. These results only appeared with this colour.

Markus sums it up:

‘I could not detect a difference between organics and regulars. After 20 washes, the shirts don’t really differ. Thus, one cannot say that organics behave better or worse than regulars.’

Check out what the results look like below. Market researcher Torge kindly put on an American Sustainable Black Jersey Shirt. Boy he looks even better than the shirt! (before the test left, after right)

Please note: in the test lab, we try to adhere to the strictest possible scientific standards. Still, we have no way of telling whether the results will be quite the same when tried at home or elsewhere. One point of contention is that the shirts are not being worn in between washes. This means, sweat and mechanical stress are not a factor here. (These could actually contribute to keeping the shirt in shape!) Also, individual products may differ in quality notwithstanding strictest quality control. Cotton is a natural product, after all. And despite elaborate technologies like preshrinking and sanforization, cotton products will usually change shape just a bit, up to 10%. Read more on this subject by a university of Ohio source

(detail, before and after 20 washings)