Is there a reason to take the risk in this case?

If you have a dryer rack, place the shirt on the rack. Kind of fold (smooth) it out like they are displayed in the store. Use all the available space on the rack. Then put on the lowest heat and less dry setting. Don't overcook the garment.

I'm assuming your asking because you don't want a wet shirt setting around waiting for it to dry. And I have washed a lot of things that say dry clean only. BUT you have to be willing to risk ruining the garment.

This is the reason I have a bunch of TIDE Smart Dry Hangers - love 'em, love 'em, LOVE 'em. Hubby has a lot of these kind of shirts and they dry really well on these hangers. Air, without the benefit of a machine, is still a method of drying. I also rarely dry ANYTHING in the dryer, let alone something that says not to.

I use sweater drying racks if I don't think something will dry properly hung on a TIDE Smart Dry Hanger. Our clothing last longer, don't develop pills all over them from friction in the dryer, they don't shrink or stretch because I can block them to size like I do with my hand-knit sweaters.

I guess the days of "special care" for laundry is yet one more by-gone thing.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Tide Smart Dry Hangers

My husband is a golfer and won a bunch of expensive golf shirts in tournaments this past spring/summer. I don't think they're 100% cotton; they're made of some sort of new, very thin 'breathable' fabric that has cotton in it.

The labels on them say to turn them inside out and button them before laundering in cold water on a gentle cycle, so I do that.

Drying instructions say to dry for 5-10 minutes on LO heat (still inside out), then turn them right side out and hang to finish drying. I hang them on the Tide hangers mentioned above to dry. They come out looking new every time.

These instructions are not the same as yours, so you may not want to try this.

I thought knits tended to stretch when dried hanging.

chipshot -

Not all knits stretch. It depends on how heavy the fabric is, fabric/yarn type, close or open weave or knit, and how wet they are - hand washed or spun in the washer at 1,000 rpm or faster....

If I think they will stretch, I'll dry them flat on sweater drying racks, or flat on my European drying rack.

How do you dry knits?

-Grainlady

"I guess the days of "special care" for laundry is yet one more by-gone thing."

I remember my Mom using the old wringer washers with the two rollers that squeezed the water out of the clothes. You had to manually feed the clothes through the ringers. As a kid, I thought that was fun. But then I didn't do the whole load, I just got to play. You also had to be careful how you touched the machine, as it sometimes would "bite." There wasn't too much special care after that washer got done with the clothes. LOL!! All in all the new machines are gentler on clothes and definitely not as "shocking."

Grainlady & Mara~ Do you hang sweaters on the Tide hangers that specifically say "lay flat to dry"? Just curious how this works.

Thanks!
Shannon

No, I don't always follow the laundering instructions but I have ruined a couple of things over the years. It was worth it for all time and energy I saved on the other items! I machine wash my Kohls cashmere sweaters with success!
So for the golf shirt I would machine wash on a normal or gentler cycle with the shirt in a laundry bag. I use those a lot when the label says machine or hand wash. Then I'd put it in the dryer for 5 minutes to get the wrinkles out. Finally, I would dry it the rest of the way on a sweater rack.
I dry knits by judging each piece: dryer, hanging, laying flat or some combination of the three.

NO. Things like you describe I always dry on low for a few minutes to get most of the wrinkles out and then I lay flat to dry. Works perfect every time - just have to make sure you don't walk away and forget to pull the item out while still very damp. I never hang these things to dry - except maybe after they've laid flat and are almost dry.

I used to use those bags for delicate/hand wash when I had a wrangling TL but no longer use them with the FL. I do sometimes slow the spin speed to minimize wrinkles.

Shannon, I have dried items on the Tide hangers which say 'lay flat to dry'. Thus far, I haven't had any problem with those items stretching - however, they're all made of cotton or a cotton blend. When I hang them, I carefully and gently make sure they are hanging straight. HTH

Officially, yes, unofficially, no.

Golf/polo shirts, however, you do need to be careful with, they tend to shrink upwards and become rather short.

Every year after Christmas, my local Lacoste store would have a sale and I'd buy one. All mine are gone now, time I treated myself.

Hanger dry is ok I've found, although flat dry on a towel is good too. I think a gentle machine wash is fine, but I would avoid the dryer.