My socks shrank after 1 wash --- what should I do?

I got a whole bunch of new socks, but after 1 wash they have shrunk a lot. They were soft and stretchy; now they are crazy tight and I have to stretch them out a lot so that they are able to fit over my heel.

What is the cause of the shrinkage, how can I undo it, and how do I wash and dry my socks without them shrinking and losing the stretchiness and softness?

What causes shrinking?

The main culprit is usually two-fold:

• Cheap cotton that was not pre-shrunk in the factory
• Too hot washing and drying

Cotton can shrink between 2% and 20% in size the first time it's washed. In the good old times manufacturers would pre-wash and thereby pre-shrink cotton fabric before it was sewn into any garments, but that is an expensive additional step in the process that most (if not all) manufacturers today simply omit. As a result, virtually all cotton textiles you buy shrink the first time you wash them.

The amount of shrinkage is influenced by the temperature and agitation. Washing cotton very hot and constantly moving it around shrinks it more than washing it at medium temperature and gentle cycle. If you wash your socks at medium temperature but then put them in a hot tumble dryer, they shrink a second time.

In addition to that, cotton does not equal cotton. The fibers grow longer or shorter, depending on the health of the cotton plant. Longer fibers are better quality and therefore more expensive. Due to climate change and soil deterioration the growing conditions for cotton are getting worse and worse. Customer preference for cheap products and bad growing conditions meaning an overabundance of low-quality, short fiber cotton in consumer goods. The problem is that you cannot see the fiber length once it's spun and processed into a textile, so the consumer cannot check the quality of the cotton themselves.

What causes stiffness in fabrics?

In short: some residue that is left in the fibers. This can be mineral deposits if you have very hard water. But AFAIK most modern laundry detergent contains water softeners anyways. Too much detergent can leave a residue as well if it's not flushed out completely.

You should learn about your local water hardness either from your local water suppliers homepage (many publish measurements like that) or use a cheap test kit. Then adapt the amount of laundry detergent to your actual hardness level.

Extra tip: don't fill the washing machine until you have to stuff garments in. That makes it harder for water to circulate and flush out dirt and detergent residue.

What can you do?

• Don't buy the cheapest bulk packages of any garments. You only get what you pay for.
• Soak the socks in clean water, stretch them to the desired size and air-dry them. Be careful not to warp or over-stretch them.
• Use the appropriate amount of laundry detergent.
• Buy colored socks. White socks don't have to be washed any time during manufacturing, so all of the possible shrinkage happens at the customers. Dying, however, requires soaking and drying the fabric, so dyed fabrics are at least somewhat pre-shrunk.