I've got a pack of seemingly nice quality t-shirts that got a lot shorter and wider after first wash. I tried stretching them back to their original form but that doesn't work.

Used to be the cheap "three pairs for 10 euro" socks lasted a couple of years. Now I get, maybe, a year out of them before the holes get too obvious.

And price is not a reliable indicator of quality. Buying expensive can be just as much as a gamble as buying the cheap stuff.

Do you have Uniqlo where you live? Cost performance is excellent.

"May shrink on first washing" or something like it seems to be pretty common; you might've accidentally tried something on which had that labelling (or didn't, which would suck).

I bought some wrangler jeans, because I remembered that I had a pair years ago that fit me better than levis, the levis were quite expensive and the wranglers cheap.

They were ok for the first wear - but not great to be honest.

Then I washed them and they were unwearable.

Didn't do anything fancy, just a cool wash, dried them on the line.

They turned to cardboard.

Interesting, my experience with Levi's and Wrangler is equally the opposite, and to the larger extent - 501's, 510's would barely survive 6-9 months of wearing, while Wranglers (mostly Arizona And Texas) happily roll into... <checks purchase date> third year.

Washing in 30 degrees, always tumble drying on low (dryer has a humidity sensor and stops when it's dry, doesn't overdo).

Levis quality has gone done and their pants doesn't last long, but neither does most Wrangler. However, Wrangler does have a line of pants made from 100% cotton, not added elastic materials. I have yet to test, but my theory is that the people who have long lasting Wrangler may have purchased the 100% cotton variant, but remind unaware of that fact.

That's kind of what happens to denim when you air dry it. They are fine. Wear them a bit and you won't notice. If it bothers you next time tumble dry them on low.

Having recently compared one tumble dryer to another, “low” covers an exceedingly wide range, from genuinely lukewarm to “damage my clothing please”. Oddly, both machines I compared were LG and were not especially old. “Low” is a relative term.

Then beat them on the clothes line with a stick. Denim always gets stiff when it’s dried like that.

Yeah, I like that about new denim. After 6 months of wear it won’t do that so much and you’ll miss it. Maybe the poster is used to denims that are not 100% cotton.

The last two times I purchased men's socks off the shelf at a big box store, they looked like fishnets after I put them on. Perfectly normal looking, brand name crew socks.

I bought some dark blue trousers at C&A and after a dozen washes they are noticeably losing their colouring.

Yes, I know, Cheap&Awful. I’m poor.

Wearing the same now, can agree.

Costco garbage don't bleed :)

Seriously though...

It happens the same to me. Probably we don't experience that because we don't either buy any cheap garments from Shein or similar Chinese stores.

I tried to get all kinds of expensive tshirts but I have yet to find a brand that won't develop holes around the seams after a year of weekly wear.

Shein crap falls apart in the first wash

It does seem to take some more effort these days to find quality, but it’s mostly out there - even for clothing.

For jeans I’ve settled on Duluth Trading for the time being, found a style and size that fits well and is easily cared for. Many washes later and they are just fine!

Levi’s still seems fine to me as well, but you have to get them from their “high end” retail channel - such as their own storefronts. I’ve definitely noticed a wide difference between that channel and the “low end” retail channels like Amazon and mass market retailers. Seems many brands are doing this weird “channel segmentation” thing recently.

That said, you’re not gonna find a decent pair of jeans for less than around $80 today, unless you get rather lucky with a clearance sale. This makes sense to me, despite my formative years price anchoring being 20 years ago and the initial sticker shock.

I’ve found decent clothing for all my needs really - the most annoying thing is a brand discontinuing and item I started to rely on being there.

I'll name and shame - Fruit of the Loom.

They may never have been amazing, but that's the point - they were a representative, middle-of-road brand and you could just assume their clothes would last. I've got a >10 year old shirt that's still fine and a new one that's holed after a single wash. It's not a QA fail, the loss of quality is very clearly deliberate.