Prolong the Life of Printed Shirts

If you are like most families, you have several screen printed shirts.  It might be a shirt that has a company logo or a shirt from an activity your child was involved in.

Or it may be from your favorite Jimmy Buffett concert.  Just saying.

And some ‘nicer’ children’s clothes have items silk screened for an added touch.

While there are some of those printed shirts I could care less about, there are a few that I would like to keep looking new for as long as possible.

For example, my daughter received this shirt as a gift from her Mawmaw.  If I just wash it like I would any other shirt, it will start to look old pretty quickly.

You can see that some of the penguins are felt and some are a silk screened (and glittery!):

Here are the easy rules for washing a shirt with a printed image to help it stay looking newer for longer.

Always, always turn the shirt inside out.

If you ignore every other rule on this list, make sure to follow just this one.

This 2-second trick prevents the printed image from receiving so much agitation from the washer, especially if you have a washer with an agitator.  The friction of the machine will cause the image to crack and possibly even peel if you don’t turn the shirt inside out.

Don’t wash the shirt on hot.

Wash the shirt on cool and only rarely wash it on warm – and do so only then if it needs it.

The plastic-type property of the silk-screening does not like warm/hot water since it will bubble, crack and peel under harsh conditions.

If you can, wash the garment on the delicate cycle.

While I would consider this the least important rule of washing printed shirts, it can make a difference in the life of the printed image.

Because there is less agitation on a delicate cycle, there is less wear and tear on the printed image.

Less wear and tear equals a longer shirt life.

Do you have printed t-shirts?  What do you do to keep them looking like new?