Preshrunk

Preshrunk means fabric or a finished garment went through a shrink-control process — mechanical compressive shrinking or a controlled wash-and-dry cycle — before cutting or shipping, so most of the shrinkage a customer would otherwise see on the first home wash already happened at the mill. A tee labeled preshrunk typically caps residual shrinkage around 3% to 5%, versus 8% or more on unfinished cotton jersey straight off the knitting machine.

That's why a Gildan 5000 spec sheet lists a preshrunk note alongside its flat measurements, and why size charts for printed tees are built off that preshrunk number instead of the raw greige-goods figure — the shirt a customer receives stays close to the chart even after laundering. We once sized an entire team-uniform order off unwashed fabric measurements, and every jersey came back visibly tighter across the chest after the first wash; a preshrunk spec sheet would have flagged that before print day.

Always check whether a blank's published measurements are pre- or post-wash before building a size chart for placement or sizing customers, and favor preshrunk stock for any order likely to get laundered several times before the print job gets judged — uniforms, event merch worn all season.

Preshrunk sounds like a promise that a garment is done shrinking for good. It isn't — it means most of the shrinking already happened at the mill, not that shrinkage hits zero, and a preshrunk tee can still lose another percent or two, its residual shrinkage, over the first few home washes.