Why do my t shirts become short and wide?

[MrsMoastyToasty]

It doesn't seem to matter if I buy a cheap t shirt or an expensive one, but after several wears and washes they seem to change from being slim and long (i like them to the top of my hip) to barely reaching my belly button and considerably wider. What am I doing wrong?

If you iron them they’ll go back to the right shape. It’s something to do with the tensions of the different threads in knitted fabrics, but my brain is too tired to remember 😅

Are you washing them at a high temperature and/or tumble drying? I wash them at 30° or 40° and dry folded evenly over the clothes line or airer.

Cheaper t-shirts always lose their shape because all the cut offs are used, this means that the cotton fibres in the arms might run in opposite directions to the body, or the fibres of the front and back of the t-shirt run in different directions. That causes the garment to twist and go out of shape. I'd expect more expensive one to be cut correctly.