Wash cold, inside out
Garment-dyed cotton holds its color best in cold water, and washing inside out protects the print from the drum. With like colors, in the sense that everything you own is probably already faded.
Skip the bleach, obviously
The shirt spent its first day of life in a dye tank getting the fade exactly right. Bleach would be editorializing.
Hang dry if you love it
Low tumble dry is acceptable. Hang drying is what the shirt would choose for itself. Either way, expect the cotton to relax about half a size over the first month of wear — this is the arrangement, not a defect.
Iron inside out, low, never on the print
A heavyweight tee mostly refuses to wrinkle out of self-respect. If you must iron, do it inside out on low. Direct heat on the print is how souvenirs become regrets.
Mend, don’t retire
A small hole in year six is seniority, not failure. Any dry cleaner can bar-tack it. A shirt with a repair outranks a new one at every reunion.
The goal of all of this is simple: in thirty years the shirt should be in a thrift store, mislabeled as vintage, priced higher than we sold it for. Fabric philosophy on the Materials page.
machine wash cold. quiet pride.