Sanforized shrunk

[Matt Deckard]

There was a time when you could go to a high end store and buy a shirt that was all cotton and would not shrink. You see the ads left and right in 1930's Esquires and Life magazine for the shirts that are guaranteed to shrink less than 1%. The process was called Sanforizing and you see the label in shirts from the 40's and 50's... even military uniforms were Sanforized.

The process still exists... sort of like running the whole bolt of cotton through a washing machine before it is made into shirts... i just want to know why it is that today 2006, when I go to a store Like Brooks Brothers or Nordstrom's or buy a shirt from Charles Tyrhyitt or Turnbull and Asser that the shirts will shrink if I don't buy them a size up. yes some companies make their shirts a size up to compensate... though why not just go back to when you could find all cotton shirts that fit the same when you buy them as they would after the third washing?

http://www.sanforized.biz/e_what.htm

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Sanforized shirts feel really weird. Like they've got some kind of plastic coating over them. At least my 30s/40s dress shirts feel like that (if they're sanforized). I guess people want the soft touch of an unmolested bolt of cotton?

bk

 

[Matt Deckard]

I've never noticed that... I do know that modern wrinkle free have a polymer baked into the shirt.

The Sanforized process uses no chemicals... it's pretty much only in contact with rubber and metal in the machinery. Odd to hear you've run into rough shirts.

 

[tallyho]

I agree about the sanforized shirts having a funny feel to them. almost like a polyester/cotton blend.

 

[BellyTank]

I have worked in the garment/textile trade for most of my working life and at my last job in NZ, we always had Sanforised poplins and cotton broadcloths.

Mercerizing is another treatment for stabilising, shrinking and adding lustre to cloths. Sodium hydroxide is used.

It seems that the market doesn't demand quality shirting cloths anymore.
Maybe it should.

My favourite shirt, which has french cuffs, french/plain placquet and a long-pointed, non-fused (floppy)collar hasn't shrunk- it is also the cheapest white shirt I have ever bought.

Nice.

B
T

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Admittedly those 30s/40s sanforized shirts (even deadstock) don't shrink. Their marketing is accurate.

bk

 

[BellyTank]

Yuo can refer to that funny feeling as a 'glaze', or even a lustre.
It is the mark of a crisp, cotton textile.

Not a soft, fuzzy one.

B
T

 

[tallyho]

Not a soft, fuzzy one.

B
T

But soft and fuzzy feels so sweet against my tender supple skin!

 

[pablocham]

Those 1% shrinking promises that you see on old clothing are a bunch of jazz. Sure that was the advertising line in Life or Look magazine, but in reality shrinkage is more like 1-3%, as many of the labels concede. I have purchased many deadstock sanforized workshirts, workpant, and jeans from the 40s to the 60s over the years and have always experienced minimal, but still noticeable shrinkage. Of course even 3% (1 in. on a 30 inch waist) is much better than the 6-9% found in unsanforized cotton textiles.

Sanforization is a mechanical process involving machinery and water, so any plastic feeling must be caused by something else, perhaps a starching or stain-guarding agent.
You can see how it is done here: http://www.sanforized.biz/e_what.htm

 

[BellyTank]

Heat and pressure in textile finishing causes a 'glaze'.

B
T

 

[pablocham]

Heat and pressure in textile finishing causes a 'glaze'.

B
T

Sure, all I am really saying is that most cotton shirts and pants between the 30s and now were sanforized or treated by a similar process and I have never noticed anything plasticky about it. Also, that glaze is present in plenty of non-sanforized items like Levi's 501s, where it probably is the result of starch or some other stiffening agent. The 'glaze' is most commonly observed in overstarched and ironed cotton where it gets a shine from the compression of the fibres. Not really anything plasticky about that.

 

[flat-top]

Most of my 50's sportshirts are Sanforized, and you wouldn't know it unless you read the label.They feel like regular cotton. I would say that it was pretty standard selling point back then.

 

[Matt Deckard]

bump