The GOAT of Garment Care Demonstrates How He Stretches a Vintage T-Shirt
Perhaps you’ve packed on a few pandemic pounds? Or maybe you want to restore your beloved tee to its pre-dryer heydays? If you need a few more inches of breathing room inside your favorite t-shirt, our pal Josh from @invtgwetrust has you covered. The last time we caught up with Josh he dished the deets on removing stains (and pit stains!) from white t-shirts. This time the GOAT of garment care drops some knowledge on his trusted t-shirt stretching technique.
The Ingredients
- 100% Cotton T-Shirt
- Measuring Tape
- Bucket
- Towel
- Hair Conditioner
- Table Salt
The Process
- Measure the t-shirt.
- Fill your bucket with warm water.
- Add in a generous amount of conditioner.
- Mix in the conditioner into the water as best you can by breaking up the suspended pieces.
- Submerge it for 30 mins.
- Mix it up again before taking it out.
- Rinse the tee in warm water.
- Stretch it!
- Lay it on the towel to dry.
- Weigh down the corners (with the salt) so it holds the stretch while drying. Make sure the bottom hem is “even-steven.”
- When it’s fully dry the following day, measure again, and marvel at the new dimes!
We asked the GOAT a few follow-up questions for clarity:
- The salt isn’t added to the water, it’s just one way to weigh down the t-shirt while it’s drying.
- Josh used a 100% cotton t-shirt in this demonstration and tells us he has yet to test this on a poly-cotton blend.
- In his demo, he stretched it length-wise, but it can be applied to the width too, just take care not to “stretch the neck!” he said because nobody wants a bacon neckline t-shirt.
- Sadly, if you put the t-shirt in the dryer again it will revert back to its previous form, so air-dry it to maintain the stretch and repeat the process if necessary.