T-shirts too stiff? Soften them with this trick from a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology

Little by little, there are fewer and fewer clothes in the closet, although the reality is that it is full.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
12 March 2024 Tuesday 11:16
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T-shirts too stiff? Soften them with this trick from a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology

Little by little, there are fewer and fewer clothes in the closet, although the reality is that it is full. But there is a sweater with a couple of holes to sew, a shirt with a yellowed collar, a pair of jeans that have become somewhat deformed. And, what hurts the most, that t-shirt that was an essential and that is hardly used anymore because it has become so stiff that it is uncomfortable. Luckily, this will possibly be the easiest and quickest case to fix, as a stiff t-shirt can be softened with a simple washing trick.

Ingrid Johnson is a professor of product development at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. She will be the one to share a series of very easy steps to make a t-shirt go from being stiff to being soft. Something that is often due to one of the most typical mistakes when washing clothes. You won't even need to go to the supermarket, since all of this will be done with common products that anyone has at home.

Giving new life to a shirt that has become stiff will not take more than a few minutes, the result will be well worth it. Ingrid Johnson assures that you will only need to create a mixture with water and salt or water and vinegar. The appropriate proportion would be half a cup of salt or vinegar for every liter of water. The expert explains that these products cause the fibers of the fabric to open, which provides a certain volume and makes the garment more soft.

When the mixture is ready, you only have to immerse the garment in it completely and for seven minutes. Ingrid Johnson warns that not leaving it longer will result in better results; she advises sticking to exactly those minutes. Additionally, she specifies that this trick will only be effective with t-shirts that are cotton, cotton-polyester blends, or similar. Therefore, the composition of the garment will have to be reviewed.

Once the seven minutes have passed, you will only have to wash the shirt normally, although the best idea will be to opt for a mild detergent. And, finally, dry it as usual. Of course, in the case of using a dryer, the teacher indicates that the garment will have to be removed from it before it dries completely. What remains of moisture will be left to air dry. In this way, the result will be optimal, a soft t-shirt that is ready to be worn again now that it has lost that rigidity that made it so uncomfortable and had condemned it to being relegated to a corner of the closet.