A heavyweight tee should look the same in a year as it did the day it arrived. Most of what decides that happens in your washing machine and, more than anything, your tumble dryer.
Here's how to wash a printed cotton tee, why cotton shrinks in the first place, and how to keep whites from turning grey. The care advice comes from our own product pages. The science comes from textile research, linked at every step.
The quick version
- Turn the tee inside out.
- Wash at 30°C on a gentle cycle.
- Keep whites and light colours away from darks.
- Use a mild detergent. Skip the bleach and the fabric softener.
- Hang it to dry. If you use the dryer, keep it low and short.
- Iron on a low heat, inside out, and never over the print.
- Don't send it to the dry cleaner.
That's it. The rest of this page is the reasoning, so you know which steps matter most.
What our care instructions say
Every Padelism heavyweight tee is 100% cotton at 305 g/m2. The care line on the product page reads: machine wash at 30°C on a gentle cycle, do not bleach, tumble dry low, iron at low temperature and avoid ironing on the print, do not dry clean.
Treat that as the rulebook. Everything below sits inside it.
Why cotton shrinks
Cotton tees are knitted. The yarn gets bent into thousands of small loops, and that shaping stores energy in it. A 2018 study of cotton knitwear in Industria Textila explains that the yarn tends to free itself from the deformation it went through when the loops were formed, and that's what causes shrinkage.
Water speeds it up. Cotton is a cellulose fibre, and when water gets in, the fibres swell. The same study puts the increase in yarn diameter inside the loop at 20 to 30%. Fatter yarn, tighter loops, a smaller tee.
Then comes the dryer. Most people blame the heat. The research points at the tumbling.
In a test reported by Textile World in 2005, Cotton Incorporated put a load of 100% cotton fabric through a dryer with no heat at all. After 45 minutes of tumbling, it had shrunk by more than 20%. Loads dried at higher temperatures shrank by the same amount, just faster. Their conclusion: temperature changes how long it takes to dry, not how much it shrinks.
A 2003 study in the International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology found the same thing in cotton jersey. Shrinkage sped up sharply once the fabric dropped below about 30% moisture, and the results looked similar with or without heat. The tumbling action was the biggest factor.
Keep that 20% in context. It's a lab result on a fabric tumbled for 45 minutes, so treat it as a worst case for one test fabric. What it does show is where the risk is: the last stretch of a long dryer cycle, when the tee is almost dry and still being thrown around.
Does heavyweight cotton shrink?
It can. A heavier fabric is still cotton, and cotton knits behave the way the research above describes. Weight gives a tee its body. I've always loved heavyweight tees that hang well and hold their structure. But weight alone won't protect it from a long hot cycle and an hour in the dryer.
What you can control is the wash and the dry. These are the settings that limit shrinkage:
- Wash at 30°C. It's the top of our care instructions and plenty for a tee that's worn, not muddy.
- Use the gentle cycle. It's what our care instructions ask for, and less agitation in the drum means less friction on the cotton.
- Air dry where you can. Hang it on a hanger or lay it flat. No tumbling, no tumble shrinkage.
- If you use the dryer, keep it short. Our care instructions allow a low tumble dry. Cotton Incorporated's advice for knitted cotton is to tumble for no more than five minutes to knock the creases out, then hang it to finish.
- Take it out while it's still damp. Given that 30% moisture point, getting it out before it's bone dry is the dryer habit that matters most.
Before you buy, check the measurements against a tee you already own. The size guide has chest, length, shoulder and sleeve for every size. Our tees are cut oversized: size down for a regular fit, or take your usual size for the oversized look. The full reasoning is in how Padelism sizing works.
Looking after the print
Our tees are printed DTG, direct to garment. The ink goes into the cotton, which is why you can see a little of the knit through the letters. I go into why that matters for design in how a Padelism tee is designed. For washing, it means the print is part of the fabric, and you look after it the same way you look after the cotton, with a few extras.
Inside out, every time. Printful, a print-on-demand company that prints DTG tees, says turning a tee inside out protects the print from friction in the drum.
Mild detergent, no fabric softener. Printful's guidance is that harsher detergents can fade or discolour DTG ink, and it advises skipping fabric softener.
No bleach. Our care instructions say do not bleach, and that covers whites too.
Low heat if it goes in the dryer. Printful notes that high dryer temperatures can dry out DTG ink and cause it to crack. Low heat, short time, done.
Keep the iron off the print. If you want it pressed, turn it inside out, set the iron low and work around the design. A heavyweight tee hung up straight from the wash often doesn't need ironing at all.
Keeping whites white
A few of our tees come in White, Oat Gray and Sand Color. They look best when they stay clean, so give them some extra thought.
Wash lights away from darks. Keep White, Oat Gray and Sand Color out of a load with Black or Navy. Tide's laundry guidance says new and dark items may bleed dye, so wash them separately and inside out for the first few washes.
Wash whites after every wear. Euronics' guide to white laundry points out that whites worn against the skin absorb oils such as sweat, so they should go in the wash after each wear. That goes double for anything you've worn to the club. Don't leave a sweaty tee balled up in your kit bag until the weekend.
Hard water? Use a bit more detergent. The same guide says minerals in hard water weaken detergent and can discolour whites over time.
Dry outside if you can. Sunlight helps brighten white fabric, according to Euronics. Hang it inside out on the line. One catch for a brand new tee: Printful advises keeping DTG prints out of direct sunlight before the first wash, because the print pre-treatment can leave a sun stain that is very hard to shift. So give a new tee its first wash before it goes anywhere near a sunny line.
Deal with stains before the dryer. Heat can set a stain, so make sure it's fully out before anything warm touches it. If it needs a second wash, give it one.
After a game
If you've worn a cotton tee to play in, get it out of your bag the same day. I cover when cotton works on court and when a technical top is the better shout in cotton tee vs technical padel top. Most of the time, a heavyweight tee is what you change into afterwards, so it stays cleaner and lasts longer.
If you're building a set of tees to rotate, the 2 for £90 range covers every £48 heavyweight design, and there's more on mixing weights in our heavyweight vs lightweight guide. UK delivery is free on orders of £75 and over.
FAQ
Does heavyweight cotton shrink in the wash? It can, like any cotton knit. The research points at the tumble dryer, and at the tumbling itself once the tee is nearly dry, more than at the heat. Wash at 30°C on a gentle cycle and air dry, or tumble for a few minutes on low and hang it up while it's still damp.
Can I tumble dry a printed t-shirt? Our care instructions allow a low tumble dry. To limit shrinkage, Cotton Incorporated suggests no more than five minutes in the dryer for knitted cotton, then hang it to finish. Low heat also protects DTG ink, which can crack at high temperatures.
Should I wash printed t-shirts inside out? Yes. It keeps the print away from friction against the drum and other clothes, which is what Printful says to protect a DTG print from. It also helps when you wash a new dark tee, which may bleed dye.
Why is my white t-shirt going grey or yellow? Usually it's washing it with colours, leaving sweat in it between wears, or hard water. Wash whites and light colours on their own, wash them after every wear, and use a little more detergent if your water is hard. Don't use bleach on our tees, as the care instructions rule it out.
Can I iron over the print? No. Iron on a low heat with the tee inside out and keep the iron off the design. Hanging it straight from the wash usually means it barely needs ironing.
Find your next one in heavyweight padel t-shirts, and check the size guide before you order.
