Fabric, printing and care

How long should a printed T-shirt last?

The variable people expect to matter — what the shirt cost — matters less than how it is washed. A well-made shirt subjected to hot washes and a tumble dryer will fail sooner than a cheap one treated carefully, because heat attacks the print regardless of what was paid for it.

For children's shirts the calculation is different anyway. A shirt worn twice a week by a six-year-old has a working life measured in months because the child outgrows it, not because the garment fails. There is limited value in paying for a premium blend that will be handed on before it wears.

Where longevity genuinely matters — an adult shirt bought because the design is loved, or something intended as a keepsake — the combination to look for is mid-weight cotton, ring-spun if available, with a screen print, and then simply never putting it in a dryer.

Fading and cracking are different failures with different timelines. Colours dull gradually from abrasion and detergent; prints crack suddenly from heat. Washing inside out addresses the first, washing cold addresses the second.