Knitted fabrics are stretched in length while they are knitted, dyed and finished. When the garment is washed and tumble dried, the loops relax and the fabric tends to shrink back, usually more in length than in width. Cotton-rich fleece is especially prone to this, and a hot dryer often shows the full effect in the first cycle. Some shrinkage is normal, but how much depends on how the fabric was finished, so it can be measured and limited in the specification.

Measure under your label conditions

Wash and dry garments with a named procedure such as ISO 6330, or measure garments with AATCC TM150, which AATCC revised in its 2026 manual. Use the wash temperature and drying method your care label actually allows. If the label says tumble dry, test with tumble drying; a line-dried result will understate what customers see. Record body length, sleeve length and chest width separately.

Set a tolerance per dimension

Agree a maximum change in length and width for the garment, tied to the method and the number of wash cycles. Many buyers also test after three or five cycles, because some fleece keeps shrinking beyond the first wash. Put the same limits into the fabric approval so the mill knows the target before bulk fabric is finished.

Ways the factory can reduce it

Options include compacting or pre-shrinking the fabric during finishing, adjusting the fabric construction, or adding a pattern allowance so the garment is cut slightly longer to reach the right size after washing. A pattern allowance only works if shrinkage is consistent between fabric lots, so it should go with lot-by-lot testing.

Keep the care label honest

Under the FTC Care Labeling Rule, 16 CFR Part 423, the label must give care instructions for regular care and warn about procedures that would harm the product. If the hoodie cannot handle a hot tumble dry without shrinking out of size, the label should say tumble dry low or line dry, and the garment should pass under those conditions.

Keep washed reference garments from approval and compare them with washed garments from bulk, so the team can see drift without waiting for customer reviews.