5 Secrets to Lasting T-Shirts

It's taken us over a decade to produce all the apparel designs you see on Liberty Maniacs. But one thing we've learned is that there's nothing worse than buying a great new shirt and it's ruined after a wash or two.

No matter how high quality a shirt is, if it's cared for incorrectly it just will not last. This is actually especially true with the type of natural textiles we use for our shirts. All decorated garments no matter if they are embroidered, silk screened, or printed with water based inks, have certain laundry rules that are crucial. Here's the lowdown on keeping you Liberty Maniacs apparel in long-lasting, great condition.

Remember this: Inside out, cold machine wash, hang dry or tumble dry on low, never directly iron on a shirt's decoration, and never bleach or dry clean.



First, always use cold water. There's really no reason to wash clothes in hot water unless you're a hospital or a hotel laundering sheets and towels. Cold water will get your clothes clean and it's certainly gentler on the fabric. So if your shirt is contaminated with Ebola... okay, maybe. But you should probably just burn it anyway.

Second, don't use bleach or other strong detergent products.
Like using hot water, there's no good reason to use harsh cleaning products on your clothes. Use a stain remover on spots but try to stay away from bleach all together.

Third, turn your clothes inside out before you wash and dry them.
Most people already do this with t-shirts and jeans, but all of your clothes will benefit from the inside out maneuver to prevent fading and to protect printing and embellishments. Decorated shirts will last much longer if you do this.

Fourth, do not put your clothes in a hot dryer.
We cannot stress enough this point about hot air and your clothes. Never set the dryer on its highest heat settings when you want to dry clothes (towels don't mind being cooked in the dryer!), and always remove them from the dryer before they are completely dry to hang up or lay out to finish drying. High heat is probably the worst enemy of printed apparel (and most clothes). Old school hang drying is always the best. But if you're like us living in the great white Minnesota North, that isn't exactly an option all year round.

Fifth, wash similar clothes together and we're not just talking about colors! We all have had the occasional "pink" socks, t-shirts, and underwear due to an errant red clothing item sneaking into the white wash, but color separation is not the real issue. You want a load of wash to have similarly textured clothes to limit the amount of rubbing each item receives. Fabric rubbing is a quick way to create pills (even if you have a cloth shaver it's a pain to have to use it!), and custom printed items could crack and peel from too much friction. Just imagine rubbing a piece of sandpaper on your skin. That’s how a t-shirt feels when it’s washed with towels.

Okay, yes, that just happened. We really wrote about how to do laundry, but we did because it's important to take good care of your Liberty Maniacs apparel! We want these to last you.