Cotton Care Tips: Help Your Heavyweight Cotton Sweatshirt Last Longer!

Once you wear a Just Sweatshirts 100% heavyweight cotton sweatshirt, you’ll be wondering how you ever got on without one.

Luxurious, thick, warm yet comfortable through all seasons, gentle even on sensitive skin, and breathable, there are 101 reasons to love cotton (or something thereabouts).

Our heavyweight cotton sweatshirts are also made with pre-shrunk, ring-spun fabric, so they’re less likely to shrink and unlikely to pill, ensuring higher quality and greater longevity.

But that doesn’t excuse the issue of how to care for your cotton so it will care for you, for longer.

Here are our suggestions for care and cleaning.

Caring for 100%, Heavyweight Cotton Sweatshirts: Washing Information

First things first, it’s imperative that you wash your heavyweight 100% cotton hoodie properly and according to our official recommendations.

Machine washing our heavyweight cotton clothing is acceptable, but you should never wash your cotton clothing in water warmer than 105?.

It might seem like hot water is the way to provide the deepest clean for your clothing, but this is rarely the case. Hot water can set stains, cause permanent wrinkles, and even cause or accelerate fading.

And, of course, as you know, hot water can damage cotton fibers, causing permanent shrinkage. Our fabrics are cut from pre-shrunk cloth, so shrinkage is unlikely, but that doesn’t mean you can throw caution to the wind. Keep the water cool!

Also, another good bit of advice is simply not to wash your cotton outerwear too much. We’re talking about sweatshirts, here, not socks and underwear. Much of the time, a spot cleaning will do just fine. There’s often no need to put a sweatshirt through the wash cycle.

If it’s visibly clean, has no stains, and smells fresh, give it a little longer before you put it through the wash again.

Washing less frequently will keep your cotton fabrics softer for longer. Again, our garments are made from ring-spun cotton that is unlikely to pill or become threadbare, but repeated heavy washings can still damage the fibers.

Also, washing less frequently can help the garment keep its shape and prevent fading and washout.

Another good bit of advice is to turn your garments inside out when you wash them. This will keep the colors brighter and can also protect their shapes.

While cotton can be washed on basically any machine cycle, we suggest opting for the gentle wash cycle. There’s no reason to stress your cotton garments, and a gentle cycle will keep them softer and brighter while preserving their shape.

One more thing: before you machine wash your heavyweight cotton hoodie, pre-treat any stains with a stain remover that’s rated as safe for use with 100% cotton - and don’t use bleach.

Can You Bleach a Heavyweight Cotton Sweatshirt?

No! Forget what any other guides have told you so far. Our heavyweight cotton clothing is neither colorfast nor is it structurally able to withstand the chemical assault of bleach.

Bleach is highly reactive and extremely harsh on fabrics. That same cleaning action that dissolves stains also basically dissolves your clothing’s fibers.

Over time, excessive use of bleach will weaken the fibers, stretch them out, ruin the cut and fit of clothing, and cause fading and yellowing. Bleach can also damage the soft fibers that fill a garment and make it feel warmer and fuller.

Our advice? Just don’t use it. It will fade our cotton sweatshirts (and other cotton garments) and can cause more substantial (not to mention irreversible) damage.

What About Fabric Softener?

Likely, many of you reading this have used fabric softeners. While you can use them, we generally advise against them. Our heavyweight cotton garments are soft enough as it is and don’t need the help - not to mention that fabric softener, like bleach, can damage fabrics over time.

Don’t get us wrong. Fabric softener is nowhere near as potentially damaging as bleach is, but still, it can ruin fabrics over the long term.

It works by depositing a layer of charged compounds on the fabric, creating a coating that makes them feel softer. However, over time, this layer can accumulate, which can make it feel like there is a residue stuck on your clothing (which is basically impossible to get off). When in doubt, leave it out.

Drying Information

Drying is also a tricky subject when it comes to cotton clothing, with some providers telling you that machine drying is acceptable and others telling you to forego it.

We are in the latter camp. Machine drying is harsh on cotton clothing and can set wrinkles and cause shrinkage. There’s just no need for it.

Instead, we suggest air drying. Line drying is acceptable, but if you want to ensure that your garments dry evenly, do not become wrinkled, and are never sun-faded or weather-damaged, lay them flat to dry in a cool, dry area away from direct sunlight and with plenty of ventilation.  Also, never stack them - one layer at a time.

Dealing with Wrinkles

Can you iron our heavyweight cotton clothing to remove wrinkles? Yes - but your first defense against wrinkles should be washing and drying your clothing properly - that way, you won’t need to iron!

But, if you do ever encounter a situation in which you need to iron your heavyweight cotton clothing, that’s alright too. Just make sure you don’t use the iron on a setting that is too hot. That, like hot water and bleach, can damage your cotton clothing.

Instead, make sure you iron on the low setting - don’t exceed 230? and you should be good.

Or, just make sure you take your laundry out as soon as the cycle is over and lay it out flat to dry - that should prevent wrinkles before at the source.

Questions? Don’t Guess - Contact Us!

Following these tips for care and maintenance should keep your heavyweight cotton sweatshirts more comfortable and brighter for longer, but if you have any questions, we are always here to help.

Get in touch with us at 1-866-888-5878 if you have any questions about cotton care, we’re happy to help you.