How A Dress Shirt Shrinks
As a general rule, dress shirts are made from woven cotton fabric. Woven cotton shrinks an average of 2%. As we touched upon above, this figure can vary depending on the exact fabric, so it's wise to assume a fabric will shrink anywhere between 1-3%. In case that doesn't sound like much, we'll put it into perspective. If a typical sleeve length first measures 35", that can translate to a full 0.7" of shrinkage. Pretty sizeable!
We use sleeves as an example because dress shirt fabrics tend to shrink more in the warp than the weft (in other words, in the length rather than the width). Sleeve length, shirt length and collar are all the places where you can expect the most shrinkage to occur. Now, shrinkage happens over time, and unless there are some drastic circumstances the average shirt fabric won't suddenly shrink dramatically, so don't panic too much. You'll generally only find it starts to get a little tighter after you've washed it a good few times.
What Makes A Dress Shirt Shrink?
Again, it depends on the fabric. Finer shirting fabrics like chambrays and silks tend to be exceptionally shrinkable, but mainly dress shirts shrink because of the way they're washed. For example, if you're in the habit of washing the shirt on a high heat in the washer, and then drying it on a high heat in the dryer, you're obviously going to notice a pretty significant difference when you next come to wear it. On the other hand, if you're selective about when you wear the shirt, and occasionally have it spot cleaned by a professional dry cleaner, it's going to be a longer time before you start to feel a difference.
A particularly good trick is to anticipate it before it even occurs, by up-sizing the shirt slightly during the tailoring process, so that the normal amount of shrinkage is taken into account.
How You Can Avoid Dress Shirts Shrinking
The most important factor to note is that ultimately, you can't – not unless you never plan on washing it! However, there are measures you can take to drastically slow down the process, to the extent that you might even be looking for another shirt before serious shrinkage even becomes a problem. Amongst these measures are:
Dry clean your dress shirts if possible
If you wash them at home, opt for cooler cycle settings
Always avoid putting them in the dryer – instead, hang them out to dry naturally
Choose your fabric cleaning products carefully
Avoid using starch and bleach!