There have been changes in the manufacturing process to "pre-shrink" fabrics.

Similar improvements have been made to improve colorfastness. Mixing new reds and whites used to consistently produce pink. Not anymore.

This makes sense in the modern age where retailers accept returns for any/no reason and manufacturers tend to bend over backwards to get you to avoid returning anything.

Same reason why any furniture you order online seems to always have all the tools necessary to assemble it. They never require power tools and always include screwdriver(s) and/or Allen wrenches. They need to design away every possible reason someone might just return it.

Still happens sometimes, especially if you do warmer water.

I have some semi-recent pinkified cloths.

That said, washing everything on cold water and low temps in the dryer works pretty well at extending the life of cloths.

Not buying fast fashion helps with the color fastness. There was the article sometime back about one of the popular depeche mode sites with "swimming attire" vs swimsuits as they were not meant to get wet and the colors would run down your skin if you got them wet.

I should have been clear, I also expected that there were changes to the clothes. I was just more surprised after we ran some sweaters through the cycle on accident, only to find that they did just fine.