Does Polyester Shrink? Yes, and Here's Why

Table of Content

• Introduction
• What Is Polyester?
• A Brief History of Polyester
• How Heat Influences Polyester
• Why Does Polyester Shrink?
• How to Prevent Polyester from Shrinking
• How to Shrink Polyester Deliberately
• FAQs

We all love polyester clothing due to its durability, versatility, and low-maintenance nature. I bet you have many clothes that contain this material. They’re either combined with other materials or 100% polyester. 

But some people are wondering if polyester shrinks. If it shrinks, why it happens, and how to prevent it, or vice-versa, how does it deliberately shrink it?

So today we’ll find out what polyester is, we’ll also talk about its history, how heat influences it, and why it might shrink. We will discuss how to prevent polyester from shrinking and if you want to shrink deliberately – how to do it!

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All right, guys, get ready to consume a massive piece of great content, and if you want to learn more about fashion and glow up, check out our most popular articles, such as 7 Best Nike shoes in 2023 and 15 Best Streetwear outfits for men in 2023.

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I wanna firstly start with what is polyester. We will then continue with its history.

What Is Polyester?

Not everyone knows what polyester is, so let’s learn more about this! 

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Polyester is a synthetic fabric from long-chain polymers derived from petroleum, coal, air, and water. 

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You will ask me when it was developed and became popular. Well, in the 1940s it was first developed, but gained popularity a bit later, surprisingly, to be more precise in the 1950s and 1960s, just because it didn’t have a big price, was easy to maintain. It was, and it is now very resistant to wrinkles and stains.

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Generally, it’s a great material to make clothing of. Many people don’t like it since it’s not a natural material. like cotton or something similar. It’s artificially made, so people think it’s not a good quality product. It’s not true. Polyester is great, but cheaper than some other materials, so it can be a good replacement for more expensive materials out there.

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Now that we understood what polyester is, let’s learn more about the history of the material.

A Brief History of Polyester

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As I mentioned in the previous section, it was developed in 1940, but who developed it? Get ready to meet British chemists John Whinfield and James Dickson. They wanted to create a new, more durable fiber that could easily compete with nylon.

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Terylene – the first polyester fiber was introduced in the UK in 1948. DuPont bought the rights to manufacture polyester in the United States, so by the 1950s this material became a popular choice worldwide due to its low price and durability.

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Heat can influence polyester as well, so in the next section, I want to explain to you how.

How Heat Influences Polyester

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Heat can drastically change the way polyester behaves. As I mentioned, the fibers are made of long-chain polymer, and they’re very sensitive to heat.

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In short, the fibers can soften under high temperatures and it will be easy to damage or shrink them. But don’t worry – its melting point is around 250-260 degrees, so our normal life conditions and the weather can’t damage it or do something bad with it.

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A very important thing to keep in mind though is to watch out for not exposing them to actual heat, like iron or boiling water. In the case of iron, you will most likely burn it or melt the clothing made out of polyester. If you submerge it in boiling water, it’s not gonna melt, but be ready to see your clothes shrink.

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But you shouldn’t worry about this much, because polyester is not the only material that behaves this way. There’s a small chance that you can shrink it unintentionally, and even if you want to do so – it’s gonna be super hard to do.

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But still, why does it shrink? We’ll fid it out in the next section!

Why Does Polyester Shrink?

Polyester can shrink for several reasons, so let’s learn more about them:

1. Heat exposure: We were discussing it in detail in the previous section, so we will not discuss it for a long time, but when polyester is exposed to high temperatures, such as during washing or drying, the fibers can contract, which will shrink the fabric. But we all know how wool or cotton can shrink, and the polyester  shrinkage is really small compared to them
   

2. Manufacturing process: During the manufacturing process, polyester fibers are stretched and set using heat. So the natural size of the clothing might be a bit smaller than you see in the shop. This means that when you expose it to heat, it will return t its initial state, that’s it. It’s that simple.
   

3. Blended fabrics: The third factor that we can’t ignore is a blended fabric. If polyester is combined with cotton or rayon, it can shrink as these fabrics have a tendency to do so. So keep that in mind when choosing to clothe, especially if it’s an item that is supposed to be a part of sustainable fashion.

How to Prevent Polyester from Shrinking

To prevent polyester from shrinking, follow these simple steps:

1. Wash in cool or warm water: The best thing you can do for your polyester clothing is to wash it in cool water. This will make sure the fabric doesn’t shrink, so do it, and you’re gonna be happy. If you have a cool water regime in your washing machine, use it, as it’s gonna make all the difference.
2. Use gentle detergents: Harsh detergents can break down polyester fibers over time, making them tend to shrink. The only thing I can recommend here is to look for gentle, fabric-safe detergents instead.
3. Air dry or tumble dry on low: Dryers can also make your clothing shrink, it’s not only applicable to polyester but to other easy-shrinkable fabrics as well. The high heat from a dryer can cause polyester to shrink, so either consider air drying your polyester garments or tumble drying them on low heat.
4. Avoid direct heat sources: No more high-heat ironing. If you have a setting that can iron clothing at low temperatures – use it, I’m sure it’s gonna help you!

How to Shrink Polyester Deliberately

In the previous section we were trying to prevent shrinking, but let’s suppose you want to shrink clothes due to their size that isn’t good for you or other reasons you have, what will you do? Now we will figure it out::

1. Wash in hot water: Now we will be doing completely opposite things we did to our fabric in the previous section. We tried to avoid shrinking by not washing clothes in hot water, but it’s easy to figure out what to do if you wanna achieve the opposite result. Just wash it in hot water. Easy method that works just fine. But it’s better to do along with other methods, and now we’ll move to them.

2. Dry on high heat: After you washed polyester in hot water, you can just dry it with a dryer at the max temperature. This will shrink the fabric even more. 
3. Iron with steam: If you wanna shrink it more, what else can you do? Of course, iron. Just iron your clothing with steam. This is a perfect method, so do it whenever you need it. I would even say that it’s even more effective in terms of the temperature it provides. 
4. Repeat the process if necessary: If you don’t see big or any results, try doing all the steps described above again a few times. this should make all the difference since sometimes fabrics don’t shrink from very short heat exposure.

Now that we covered everything we wanted to, I want to end this post with frequently asked questions.

FAQs

Q: Is polyester more resistant to shrinkage than natural fibers?

I mentioned it in this post, but for the full answer, I'll repeat it again. Polyester is more resistant to heat than some natural and very popular fabrics like cotton and wool, so it’s extremely hard to shrink it deliberately. 

If you wanna do so, the best way is to apply heat on the fabric, this will work in 100% of cases.

Q: Can I safely iron my polyester garments?

The answer is yes! You definitely can do it, but make sure your iron is set on low heat, if you iron this fabric with steam, you have a chance to shrink it, and even burn if the heat is very big. Anyways it depends on what purpose you’re chasing. If shrinking your clothing is the goal, apply high heat without any hesitation!

Q: Can I dye polyester fabric?

It’s hard to do since it’s a synthetic fabric. Unlike natural fabric, it’s not very easy to dye, but they’re different dyes that will suit your needs, but they're specialized, so maybe consider searching them on specialized websites or marketplaces.

Q: How can I tell if my garment is made from polyester or a polyester blend?

Care label has all the information you need about the clothing you buy. It will show which fabric it’s made of, and what percentage of different fabrics the product is as if it’s made with blended fabrics.

Q: Can polyester garments be recycled?

Yes, polyester can be recycled. Many clothing manufacturers and recycling programs accept polyester textiles for recycling, where they can be broken down and reprocessed into new polyester fibers.

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