kingdomkeeper


quality posts: 1 Private Messages kingdomkeeper

Hey everyone,
I have noticed that on several of my woot shirts(The Unstealthest Ninja and another older shirt) it seems that strands of fuzz are like breaking through the ink on the front of the shirt. Or maybe just the ink is wearing especially fast on them? Does anyone else have issues with certain shirts wearing faster then others or could I be doing something wrong with washing them? I wash them inside out, cold, and tumble dry low. I am just uber protective of my woot shirts and don't want to have some of my favorite shirts wear out so quick!

tinsoldiergt


quality posts: 3 Private Messages tinsoldiergt
kingdomkeeper wrote:Hey everyone,
I have noticed that on several of my woot shirts(The Unstealthest Ninja and another older shirt) it seems that strands of fuzz are like breaking through the ink on the front of the shirt. Or maybe just the ink is wearing especially fast on them? Does anyone else have issues with certain shirts wearing faster then others or could I be doing something wrong with washing them? I wash them inside out, cold, and tumble dry low. I am just uber protective of my woot shirts and don't want to have some of my favorite shirts wear out so quick!



Same thing happens to mine. I wash them cold and line dry them, but on a couple the fuzzies showed up after three or four washes. I just credited it to my inability to have nice things without messing them up.

Narfcake


quality posts: 239 Private Messages Narfcake

A random sampling here, from newest designs to oldest. My washing machine is a Bosch front loader, and I line dry.

Do Not Pass Go - bought new, worn/washed 3 times. No detectable wear.

Unstealthiest Ninja - copy #1, bought new, washed/worn 20+ times. Not a dark black anymore, slight cracking in a few areas the print, some slight fuzzing of the unprinted portions, none through the print itself. Copy #2, bought new, washed/worn 3 times. No detectable wear.

Tofu, Food’s Master of Disguise - bought new, washed/worn 8+ times. Baby blue not faded. No cracking, some slight fuzzing throughout the unprinted portions.

Eat More Meat - bought new, washed/worn 10+ times. Grass green not as vibrant as new but not faded by any means either. No cracking, some slight fuzzing on the broccoli, which does not have the white plastisol underprint as do the other fruits.

Oops I missed, let me try again - bought used, unknown wash/wear count. Brown is slightly faded, no cracking, slight fuzziness throughout.

Ouroboros - bought used, unknown wash/wear count. Navy slightly faded, no cracking, no fuzziness.

The Land of Lost Socks - bought used, unknown wash/wear count. Lemon faded, no cracking, general fuzzing throughout.

Global Warming Isn’t So Bad - bought used, unknown count but I would venture to say it's <10. Black isn't as vibrant as new, but not really faded either, no cracking, no fuzzing.

Close Encounters of the 2-D Kind - bought used, unknown count. Black just slight faded, moderate cracking in the print, no fuzzing.

Sore Thumbs - bought used, unknown count. Black just slight faded, major cracking and wear to the print, slight fuzzing.

missmelis


quality posts: 20 Private Messages missmelis
kingdomkeeper wrote:Hey everyone,
I have noticed that on several of my woot shirts(The Unstealthest Ninja and another older shirt) it seems that strands of fuzz are like breaking through the ink on the front of the shirt. Or maybe just the ink is wearing especially fast on them? Does anyone else have issues with certain shirts wearing faster then others or could I be doing something wrong with washing them? I wash them inside out, cold, and tumble dry low. I am just uber protective of my woot shirts and don't want to have some of my favorite shirts wear out so quick!



You might not want to tumble dry them at all. I know it's a pain in the ass to hang-dry t-shirts, but the heat of the dryer (even on low heat) is usually what breaks down the print. Also, a delicate detergent like Woolite or Ivory Snow might help keep the fibers from getting fuzzy. (For darker-colored shirts, Woolite even has a special "dark care" detergent.)

Using a front-loading washer is, in general, better for clothes than a top-loader. In a top-loading machine, the clothes often get wrapped around the agitator and pulled or stretched. If you have a choice (say, you do your laundry at a laundromat or something), try using a front-loader instead of a top-loader.

The goodness of the true pun is in the direct ratio of its intolerability. - Edgar Allan Poe

Alas, poor shirt.woot. I knew it well...

omnitarian


quality posts: 15 Private Messages omnitarian

Don't forget to turn your shirts inside out before washing. And yeah hang drying is way better than tumble drying.

mrwednesday


quality posts: 12 Private Messages mrwednesday

I'm going to disagree completely with most of what's been said. The delicacy with which you need to treat your shirts is massively overstated in the shirt world and definitely is here.

I wash pretty much all of my shirts in a top loader in hot or warm water. I have sort of started turning them inside out for some of the thicker inks used at places like DBH, but rarely ever did when I was just buying woot shirts. I tumble dry at high heat.

I've not seen ink breakage like you describe in even my oldest shirts (some nearly 4 years old). The inks used by woot really are very sturdy. There is one exception in that shirts with a large contiguous design that's a single color can tend to crack but that's a byproduct of having one big blob of ink not anything else I think. It also depends on that blob of ink being pretty thick in my experience.

If you're getting cracking and fuzz sticking through I'd bet it's due to imperfections of the printing process not delicacy. You can't 100% standardize these things so there's going to be variation. If it''s substantial I would contact woot and send them some images and see what they think.

Mavyn


quality posts: 22 Private Messages Mavyn

I agree with MrWednesday...though I wash everything in cold. I don't turn things inside out, I dry on medium or high.

Tees with VERY fine print had a few problems years back, but none of the tees I've purchased within the last 2 years has had a problem. I don't keep track of how often I wear/wash my tees, but none of them show signs of wear.

My speech is not splitting. I am speaking in Cthulhu.

Narfcake


quality posts: 239 Private Messages Narfcake

Overstated perhaps, but it's also a matter a shirt's longevity. Afterall, dryer lint consists of the fabric's fiber that has been abraded off ... repeat this enough, and that's where holes come from. Then there's the economical/ecological aspects ... hot water heater, the energy to run a dryer ... it adds up.

This isn't to say that I care about every single shirt I have, but it explains why most of my circa 1994-1998 Animaniacs, 1995-1996 The Tick, 1995-1999 Dexter's Lab/Powerpuff, and 1999 Futurama shirts still look good while I have 2007-2009 Family Guy shirts that are destined for the rag bag. So barring any mishaps, I expect that my Woot (and Tilteed) shirts will still be in good shape 10+ years from now too.

Now why I still keep buying more shirts, even though I can already wear something different for well over a year without a single repeat, I don't know.

kingdomkeeper


quality posts: 1 Private Messages kingdomkeeper

Well, I know I am kinda late in replying, but thank you everyone for your input! I think I will start letting them line dry instead of using the dryer, a small pain, but even if that just helps a little it worth it. Thanks guys! :D

californiamom


quality posts: 0 Private Messages californiamom

I am thinking it must vary by shirt. I have rain, rain go away and I must have washed it 15+ times or more. Wash, then into the dryer. The only thing I noticed was some stains, but that is me not the shirt LOL. No fuzzies just a worn tee shirt. Tycoon of ice died from being worn too much and so far Cooler than You is still looking sharp