Tips to Make Cotton Sweatshirts Last Longer for Customers

As the owner of a clothing brand, you know how important it is to keep customers happy. It makes them excited to keep shopping with your brand, and to keep coming back for more! If they’re unhappy, it can make them vocal about a bad experience, hence harming your brand’s reputation.

A customer’s negative experience with, or perception of, a garment may not always be due to a brand quality error. Instead, it may be due to them not being informed on how to properly care for a garment.

It’s crucial when running a clothing business that sells cotton sweatshirts and other goods, that you teach customers how to properly care for their clothing. This will help make the clothes last longer, which gives consumers a more positive experience with your brand.

Here are a few tips to help you show your customers how to keep their cotton sweatshirts lasting for as long as possible.

Know Your Cotton

When deciding what kind of bulk crewneck sweatshirts to sell in your store, you’ll want to know the kind of cotton that goes into making the sweatshirts.

Knowing if the cotton is standard or pre-shrunk, will help you teach your customers how to make their sweatshirts last longer.

Standard cotton, for example, can shrink up to 20%. Pre-shrunk cotton may still shrink a small amount, but this will be much less than standard cotton.

Both standard and pre-shrunk cotton can be great to use in sweatshirts. It’s helpful to know which that your crewnecks contain, so that you can help customers extend the life of these garments.

Teach Customers How to Care for Their Cotton Sweatshirts

One of the best ways to make cotton sweatshirts last longer, is to teach your clientele how to care for the fabric.

Teaching customers how to wash, wear, and treat cotton sweatshirts to make them last longer, will make them happier knowing that their items will stand the test of time. It will also save you money on providing fewer refunds, exchanges, and returns, because less customers will be upset that their sweatshirts did not live up to expectations.

Share these care instructions to help your customers get the most wear possible out of their cotton sweatshirts.

Wash in Cold Water

There are many benefits to washing clothes in cold water:

• Slows the fading of fabric colors
• Prevents shrinking
• Keeps dyes from bleeding out of fabric, so there’s less transfer from one garment to another
• Releases fewer microfibers (great for cotton fabric blends)
• Uses less energy

Not only does washing clothes in cold water extend the life of garments — it’s also better for the planet! All around, cold water washes are a great benefit for cotton crewnecks and other sweatshirt styles.

Air Dry or Tumble Dry on Cold or Low Heat

Putting your clothes in the dryer — especially cotton sweatshirts made of this soft fabric — is one of the fastest ways to ruin them. The hot air can shrink and weaken the fibers. When tumbling in the dryer, garments rub against one another, which causes wear and tear and further harms the fabric.

Instead, encourage customers to air dry their cotton sweatshirts. Air drying is by far the most gentle method, and will cause the least amount of shrinkage and wear and tear on the garment.

If your customers are going to put their cotton sweatshirts in the dryer, encourage them to use a cold or low heat setting. This will be a little gentler on the garments than hot air, making it less likely for them to shrink.

Wash Less

Clothing doesn’t necessarily need to be washed after every single wear (unless it’s clearly dirty). In fact, washing items too often can make them wear out quicker. 

Instead, advise your customers that they can wear their cotton sweatshirts more than once before tossing them into the washer. Especially since many people wear tank tops, t-shirts, and other undershirts beneath their sweatshirts, it’s perfectly okay to wash them after every couple or more wears.

Spot Treat as Necessary

Another great tip to help your customers lengthen the life of their cotton sweatshirts, is to spot clean as necessary. Just because a small bit of deodorant, for example, gets on the item, doesn’t mean the entire garment has to directly go in the washer.

Instead, use a bit of laundry detergent and water to soak the spot. Then gently pat or rub it out with a washcloth or toothbrush. This can be a great way to keep a sweatshirt fresh in between washes, helping it wear better over time.

Iron Carefully

Sweatshirts won’t typically need to be ironed. If they do, however, it’s crucial to help your customers know how to do it correctly. Because heat is going directly onto the fabric, it can easily damage the delicate fibers.

However, when done carefully, an iron can help get wrinkles out of the fabric.

Cotton is best ironed when damp. And the lower the heat, the better. Another tip is to iron the sweatshirt inside out. This will ensure if there is any damage due to the heat, it will be on the inside, where it’s not visible. Otherwise, a burn mark could quickly damage the garment and make it no longer wearable.

You can also recommend that customers use a steamer instead of an iron. But, this may not work as well on thicker sweatshirt fabrics.

Share Tips To Help Customers Get the Most Life Out of Their Cotton Sweatshirts

There are many different ways you can share these tips to help customers extend the life of their cotton sweatshirts.

• Have a “Caring for Your Garments” section on your website with detailed tips to help their garments last longer.
• Post tips on your social media page.
• Add hang tags with care instructions on the garment.
• Have separate care cards that you insert with every online order, or place in the bag with every in-person purchase.
• If you do private-label garments, or have custom manufacturing, list the care instructions on the inside tag.

Regardless of how you share care tips with your customers, they’ll be appreciative. Knowing that you want to help them get the most wear out of their cotton sweatshirts, will make them feel valued, as well!