Simple Tips to Wash and Care For Your Printed T Shirt

T Shirt Plus
5 min readJul 19, 2024

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We all cherish our printed t shirts and wish for them to last forever. We always want our favourite custom tee to retain its clarity and vibrancy. The issue is that prints can crack, flake, deteriorate, or gradually fade with time. In the meantime, the fabric becomes soiled, stretched, and discoloured.

The good news is that you can completely prevent this fate by following a few simple measures.

Stop washing custom printed t-shirts with the rest of your clothes; they demand special treatment. The same criteria apply whether screen print, DTG print, vinyl transfer or heat transfer.

Preserve Printed T Shirts

After one wash, your custom t shirts may lose their colour. Or that it is gradually fading and degrading after weeks of use. Regardless of the circumstance, it is owing to your washing procedure. Yes, you can both hand-wash and machine-wash a printed t shirt. However, being careful with your clothing will make all the difference. If you’re searching for a simple remedy, you must run it through the cycle at a cooler temperature. This is because high temperatures force the design’s molecules to split from the fabric of the garment.

Suggested Read: 14 Tips to Keep Your White T shirts White

Best Aftercare Solutions for Printed T Shirt

Numerous actions are quick, straightforward, and highly effective. There’s not much more to say, so without further ado, here are a few ways to prevent your clothing from deteriorating. Remember that you do not have to utilise each option simultaneously; some are alternatives to one another.

Care Guidelines for Printed T Shirt

If you follow these expert tips, easy-to-follow maintenance recommendations will help you keep your printed t shirts looking fresh, new, and brilliant.

Wash Immediately

Tee shirts should be washed promptly after use to prevent stains. If a stain does occur, treat it immediately with bleach. However, avoid using potent ones, particularly chlorine bleach.

Rinse With Cold Water

Darks should be washed in cold water, and towels and jeans should be cleaned separately to prevent fading. Use cold water and a light detergent when washing a batch of laundry containing printed shirts.

Reduce The Use Of Fabric Softeners

Fabric softener will help maintain the appearance of your screen printed clothing. However, excessive usage of fabric softeners might have the reverse effect. Therefore, white vinegar can be substituted for softeners.

Avoid Washing with Hot Water

Warm water may cause t-shirts to shrink, so washing them in cold water is preferable. Avoid washing your printed clothing in rough water since this can harm the fabric.

Separate the Printed Garments

Printed Garments should never be washed with other textiles and should only be treated with light stain removers if necessary.

Air Dry the garments

To keep them looking new and increase their lives, it is recommended to let them air dry naturally. Using a dryer, use low heat settings to maintain the design.

Avoid Overloading the Washer

Avoid overloading your washing machine since this might cause the t-shirts to rub against one another and ruin the print.

Use a Mesh Garment Bag

If your t-shirt has delicate embellishments, you can protect them by placing them in a mesh laundry bag.

How To Wash Printed T Shirts?

  • Avoid using powerful detergents because they can be damaging to clothing.
  • Always use mild detergents compatible with your washing machine and your printed t shirt.
  • You must use a detergent designed for laundering clothing to prevent your screen printed shirts from fading.

It is suggested to wash at 30 degrees (lower if possible). Heat can cause garments to fade and shrink, accelerating the print’s degradation. Spinning your garments at 1400 rpm and subjecting them to extensive washes (over an hour) will eventually damage them. Try to maintain low revolutions and brief washes.

Also Read: How To Tie Dye A Shirt

How Do You Wash A Shirt Without Damaging The Print?

Always wash the shirt inside out not to cause any damage to the print. This can help protect your shirt’s design while washing and cleaning it thoroughly. Turning the shirt inside out reduces the agitation the washer has in the picture, primarily if you use an agitator machine. The machine’s friction will probably cause the image to break. You understand what we mean if you’ve ever laundered a shirt with a middling or low-quality print. It emerges from the washing machine damaged and discoloured.

How To Take Care Of Printed T Shirts?

It is advised to wash all clothes on the excellent cycle and use the warm cycle only when necessary. The silk designs on cotton shirts are highly susceptible to warm/hot water and may likely bubble, split, and peel under extreme conditions due to their plastic-like nature.

Wash the garment using a delicate cycle and a gentle yet effective detergent.

On a delicate cycle, where there is less agitation, there is less wear and tear on the printed image. Less wear and tear equals a shirt’s longevity. Since harsher, stronger detergents may create excessive wear and tear on the custom design t shirt, delicate detergents are recommended.

How To Wash DTG Printed T Shirts?

Use a fabric softener or dryer sheets during laundering. Do this to prevent creases (remove garments from the dryer as soon as it shuts off!)

Avoid Overloading The Washer!

Even though it is general information that overloading your washer will cause damage to its drum and hinder its performance (both in front-load and top-load washers), overloading your washer will affect your whites! If the clothes are white, you should only wash them with whites!

Fold Your Shirts Following Laundering.

As a result, it is typically recommended that you fold sweaters and t-shirts to make them last longer, as hanging them can cause them to stretch out.

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T Shirt Plus

T Shirt Printing specialist, Get Custom T Shirt Printing. T Shirt Plus specializes in giving you fully customizable custom t-shirts.https://tshirtplus.com.au/