Laundry mistakes are inevitable – you can’t stop them. We love our clothes and want to take care of them but unfortunately, clothes shrinking is common. While this can be quite the heartache, you can still save your clothes even after they’ve shrunk. In this blog, we’ll provide the answer to the question ‘what happens if my clothes shrink?’.

Firstly, it’s important we dive a little deeper into why clothes shrink. The most common reason is that the dryer’s temperature was too hot, and some clothes and fabrics shrink when exposed to high heat. We always recommend you read the labels to make sure your garment is suited for tumble drying.

Cotton, wool, and linen are usually materials that are prone to shrinking.

Now to the main question. If you do come across the ‘oh dear my clothes have shrunk’ moment, here is what to do.

Fill a sink with lukewarm water and add baby shampoo. Stir it well until you see bubbles. You can also use a conditioner that will help stretch the fibres of your garment.

After you’ve done that, put the shrunk garment in lukewarm water and leave it there between 30 minutes and one hour.

Once time has passed, remove the garment but make sure you’ve let the water drip back into the sink.

Then, get a large absorbent towel and roll up the garment inside to squeeze out the remaining water. If the garment is getting damp, then it means you are doing it right.

Finally, stretch your clothing out so it starts to reshape and then air dry it but monitor it carefully.

Clothes shrinking is a common laundry mistake but as our guide has shown, clothes can be recovered. However, we do recommend always reading care labels to prevent clothes from shrinking.

A reminder that our laundry services are available to you if you found yourself too busy to do laundry! No hassle and no clothes shrinking!

To learn more about Laundryheap, visit our website or download the free app on iOS or Android.