Bought some dress shirts (made of mostly cotton) from Banana Republic, the same brand that had good shirts some years back, the exact same size I wear.

Shockingly, after hand washing them for the first time in cold water, the sleeves have shrunk so dramatically that I cannot wear them any longer, except to roll up the sleeves Up to beyond the elbow.

They just lost customer for life. Enshittification strikes again.

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crazygringo 3 hours ago | parent [-]

That doesn't even make sense. Banana Republic cotton is fine. I have a bunch of their shirts and machine wash cold and hang-dry and zero shrinkage.

Did you put it in the dryer afterwards or something? Like I know that sounds dumb but I'm struggling to imagine what could have possibly caused what you describe.

There's zero "enshittification" of the cotton at a brand like Banana Republic.

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prmph 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

What I'm relating is 100% the truth, and I did not machine dry them after washing. I could not even believe my eyes when it happened, because I've been a customer of their dress shirts since like a decade ago and always relied on them for a precise fit.

I bought two of them, the ones that shrunk. They are labeled as wrinkle-resistant slim shirts, 98% cotton and 2% spandex.

Don't be mistaken, the quality of their apparel has definitely gone down of late. I went on Reddit and its definitely a thing people have noticed.

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steviedotboston 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Do you find there's a difference in cotton quality with different shirt brands that results in some shrinking more than others?

	▲	crazygringo 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Not when washing cold and hang-drying. When washing warm or machine drying, absolutely, although I'm not sure how much is attributable to the cotton itself versus how much is attributable to the denser weave that tends to come with nicer brands. But this comment was specifically about washing cold, hence my confusion.