Care

A cotton tee is a long conversation. Treat it well and it will be in your rotation five years from now, softer and more yours every season. Treat it badly and it will tell you within a month.

Here is how we recommend caring for a dinkmade tee.

The short version

Wash cold, inside out, with similar colors.
Mild detergent. No fabric softener.
Tumble dry low, or line dry for the longest life.
Iron inside out if needed, low heat, never directly on the print.
Do not bleach. Do not dry clean.

Why these rules

Cold water preserves the cotton fibers and keeps the print sharp. Hot water is what wears a tee out — color leaches, the cotton hand turns wiry, prints crack at the fold lines.

Inside out protects the print. Most of the wear that ruins a screen-printed shirt comes from the agitation of the wash cycle dragging the print across other garments. Turning the tee inside out keeps the print face-down through the cycle and the print intact for years.

Skip the fabric softener. Fabric softener coats cotton fibers in a thin film of silicone. It feels soft at first, but over time it ruins the natural hand of the cotton and traps body oils. Real cotton softens with washing. You do not need help.

Tumble dry low or line dry. High heat shrinks Bella+Canvas cotton more than is reasonable and bakes any residual softener into the fibers. Low heat or air drying preserves the relaxed fit you bought.

Cream colorways, separate wash

This is the one rule we are firm about. Cream tees should be washed with other light or neutral colors only — never with brights, never with dark navy or charcoal for the first three or four washes.

Cream is a warm, slightly oat-toned white. It does not yellow under normal use. But it can pick up a wash of pink or blue from a single bright red sock or a brand-new pair of jeans. Once that happens it is hard to undo.

A simple rule: cream goes in with the towels and the linens, not with the gym clothes.

What gets better with age

The first six washes are when a Bella+Canvas 6400 cotton tee earns its keep. The fabric relaxes, the hand softens, the neckline settles into its final shape. You will notice the third or fourth time you put it on that it feels different from a brand-new tee. That is the soft cotton doing what it is supposed to do.

By the one-year mark, a well-cared-for dinkmade tee should feel like a favorite. By the five-year mark, it should be the one you reach for first.

Special cases

A stain. Treat it cold and quickly with a gentle stain stick. Avoid bleach pens — they pull color from the surrounding cotton. For court-day dirt, a soak in cold water with a scoop of OxiClean works without damaging the print.

A wrinkle. Iron inside out on low heat, no steam. Never iron directly on a print — even a quick pass at the wrong setting will damage it.

Storage. Fold rather than hang. Hanging stretches the shoulders of a relaxed cut over time.