How to Care for Cotton

Wash cotton in cold water, up to 30°C (86°F), inside out and with similar colors. Dry cotton on a hanger in the shade, or tumble it on low and take it out while it is still slightly damp. Iron cotton damp at the hot setting, three dots in the iron symbol, up to 200°C (390°F).

That covers most cotton dresses, blouses and trousers. The sewn-in label on each piece comes first: its instructions mark the harshest treatment the piece can take, so a cooler wash or a gentler cycle stays within them. The rest of this page explains the reasons, so you can judge the cases a label leaves open. Sizes and fit are on Size & care.

What temperature should you wash cotton at?

Wash colored, dark and printed cotton cold, up to 30°C (86°F). On a US care label, "cold" means water up to 30°C (86°F), "warm" 31–44°C (87–111°F) and "hot" 45–63°C (112–145°F); these are the Federal Trade Commission's definitions. A washer's cold setting simply draws tap water, whose average ranges from about 3°C (37°F) in Anchorage to 28°C (82°F) in Phoenix. When it runs below about 16°C (60°F), use a detergent made for cold water.

Cold keeps color. In a study of retail garments, a 40°C (104°F) wash of 85 minutes released significantly more dye, and transferred more of it to other fabrics in the wash, than a 25°C (77°F) wash of 30 minutes; the dye that came off was mostly the reactive kind used on cotton. Cold also costs less: heating the water takes about 90% of the energy a washer uses, according to ENERGY STAR.

Use warm water, 40°C (104°F), for whites and heavily soiled pieces, and for oily stains, the exception ENERGY STAR names to cold water's good cleaning. Disinfecting with heat takes 60°C (140°F) or more, which a US hot setting may not reach; keep it for the rare piece that needs it and whose label allows it.

How do you wash cotton, step by step?

1. Read the label, and sort whites, lights and darks. Wash a new dark or bright piece on its own the first few times.
2. Treat any stain first (see below), and keep a stained piece out of the dryer: the heat can set the stain for good.
3. Turn the piece inside out, and close zips, hooks and buttons.
4. Load the drum no more than three-quarters full, so the clothes can move.
5. Choose cold and a normal or gentle cycle, and use the dose on the detergent, not more.
6. Take the load out as soon as the cycle ends, shake each piece out and smooth the seams.

Fabric softener is optional for cotton. The American Cleaning Institute notes it can reduce flame-retardant performance, and vinegar is no substitute: Iowa State University Extension warns it may weaken cotton.

Does cotton shrink, and by how much?

Cotton shrinks most in its first wash and dry. It is stretched under tension as it is woven and finished, and water lets the fibers swell and relax back. Cotton Incorporated found that one wash-and-dry cycle can release about 90% of the shrinkage a fabric has left; full relaxation can take several cycles, and the standard home-laundering shrinkage test (AATCC 135) recommends at least five.

No single industry limit exists. One US retailer's testing standard, for example, allows woven cotton without stretch to shrink 3% in each direction, woven cotton with stretch 5% and knits 6%. On a dress 100 cm (39 in) long, 3% is 3 cm (about 1.2 in). Fabric labeled "Sanforized" is held to 1% in each direction, with up to 1.5% more after tumble drying and sewing. A "preshrunk" tag gives no figure, so expect some shrinkage from preshrunk cotton too.

The tumble does most of it, not the heat. In Cotton Incorporated's tests, a cotton knit tumbled at 38°C, 66°C and 93°C (100°F, 150°F and 200°F) shrank exactly the same amount, and an unfinished cotton knit tumbled with no heat at all shrank more than 20%. The shrinking happens fastest once the cloth falls below about 20% moisture, the last stretch of a full drying cycle.

Can you put cotton in the dryer?

Cotton can go in the dryer on low, if you take it out while it is still slightly damp and let it finish on a hanger. Drying it hard does more than shrink it: researchers at the US Department of Agriculture reported in 1999 that high dryer heat can cut the strength of cotton fabric by 25% or more.

Can shrunk cotton be stretched back?

Shrunk cotton can be eased back a little. The method Swinburne University of Technology describes is to soak the piece in lukewarm water with about a tablespoon of hair conditioner per liter (about a quart), stretch it gently to size, and dry it flat. Conditioner lubricates the fibers for a while, but it cannot fully reverse heavy shrinkage, and we found no measured test of how much it recovers. Expect a partial gain, which the next wash and tumble may take back.

How do you keep dark and printed cotton from fading?

• Wash cold and short. Cooler, shorter cycles release less dye.
• Turn it inside out, so the face of the cloth rubs less and fuzzes less.
• Skip detergents with bleach. Oxygen bleach, the "color-safe" kind added to some detergents, increased the fading of reactive dyes on cotton in a 2019 study.
• Dry in the shade. Wet cotton fades faster in light than dry cotton, with black and navy the most affected, and light damage to fabric is cumulative.

Two common tips fall short. A soak in salt or vinegar does not set modern dyes; it only rinses out loose dye, and vinegar can weaken cotton. Color-catcher sheets absorb some dye, but in a Consumer Reports test the white cloths washed with them came out no better than those washed without. Sort by color instead.

How do you keep white cotton white?

Wash white cotton after each wear, and only with whites, in warm water if the label allows. Three common causes of yellowing:

• body oils at the collar and cuffs, which a pretreatment removes;
• antiperspirant, whose aluminum reacts with sweat;
• storage in plastic, where antioxidants from the bag react with the air and yellow the cloth.

Oxygen bleach keeps whites white better than it restores them. Use chlorine bleach only where the label allows it, never on anything with spandex, which it can yellow, and add it about five minutes into the wash so it does not destroy the detergent's enzymes and brighteners.

How do you iron cotton?

Iron cotton at the hot setting, three dots in the iron symbol, up to 200°C (390°F). Iron while the cloth is still slightly damp, or with steam. Press dark and printed cotton on the reverse, or through a pressing cloth. Many cotton pieces need no iron at all: Cotton Incorporated suggests misting them and smoothing them by hand, taking them out of the dryer halfway and hanging them, or letting the steam of a hot shower relax the creases.

How do you remove common stains from cotton?

Act early, blot instead of rubbing, test any product on an inside seam, and start in cold water when you do not know what the stain is. Wine and other sugary drinks can look gone and turn brown later, so treat them before they dry. These methods come from the American Cleaning Institute.

How often should you wash cotton?

Woven cotton dresses, shirts, trousers and skirts can be worn a few times between washes unless they are stained or sweated in, according to the American Cleaning Institute; whites, T-shirts and camisoles should be washed after every wear. Air a piece on a hanger between wears. In heat and humidity, wash sooner: sweat left in the cloth, with the aluminum in antiperspirant, can leave yellow underarm marks.

How do you store cotton?

• Clean and fully dry. Put nothing away damp or worn.
• On padded hangers for woven dresses and blouses. Store bias-cut and heavy pieces flat, and fold knits, which stretch on a hanger.
• Out of plastic. Take dry-cleaning bags off; use a breathable cotton cover if the piece needs one.
• Out of the light, which fades cotton for good.
• Away from damp. The Canadian Conservation Institute finds that mold takes three months or more to grow at 70% relative humidity and only a few days at 90%, and that it becomes unlikely only in air held at about 65% or below. If mildew does appear, wash the piece in the warmest water and with the bleach its label allows; badly mildewed fabric may be beyond repair.

When should cotton go to a professional cleaner?

Cotton should go to a cleaner when its label asks for it. On a US label, "Dry clean only" is a warning, which the Federal Trade Commission allows only with evidence that washing would damage the piece. A plain "Dry clean" names one safe method: a label that could list both washing and dry cleaning needs to list only one. When in doubt, follow it. Care Label Symbols, Explained reads the rest of the label.

Dresses, blouses, trousers and blazers

• Dresses. A lined dress is two fabrics, and the lining may be a different fiber. Its label covers both; follow it. Hang it from the shoulders, or store it flat if it is cut on the bias.
• Blouses. Pretreat the collar and cuffs before each wash, and iron them first, while they are dampest.
• Trousers. Hang them by the hem or fold them along their creases. Cotton Incorporated advises hanging cotton with spandex after wearing, since spandex takes about 48 hours to recover from a good stretch.
• Blazers. A structured blazer has interfacing and padding inside; follow its label, which may ask for dry cleaning. Between cleanings, brush it, air it, and spot-clean marks.

Related guides

Care Label Symbols, Explained reads the label on each piece. How to Care for Linen covers cotton's fellow plant fiber, How to Care for Viscose covers the cellulose fiber that weakens when wet, and How to Care for Polyester and Blends covers cotton blends.

Sources

1. Federal Trade Commission, Care Labeling Rule, 16 CFR 423, Appendix A, and Clothes Captioning: Complying with the Care Labeling Rule.
2. American Cleaning Institute and The Sustainability Consortium, Technical Brief: Benefits of Using Cold Water for Everyday Laundry in the U.S. (2016).
3. Cotton, Hayward, Lant and Blackburn, "Improved garment longevity and reduced microfibre release are important sustainability benefits of laundering in colder and quicker washing machine cycles", Dyes and Pigments 177 (2020).
4. ENERGY STAR, Clothes washers.
5. Cotton Incorporated, ISP 1009: A Guide to Improved Shrinkage Performance of Cotton Fabrics (2004).
6. Textile World, "Researchers Find That Tumbling, Not Heat, Shrinks Cotton" (2005).
7. Colony Brands, Minimum testing requirements (2016).
8. Sanforized, shrinkage standards.
9. US Department of Agriculture, Southern Regional Research Center, "Cotton fabrics damaged by high dryer temperatures" (1999).
10. Swinburne University of Technology, "Why some clothes shrink in the wash, and how to unshrink them" (2025).
11. Fergusson and Padhye, light, water and bleach fading of reactive-dyed cotton, Textile Research Journal 89 (2019).
12. Iowa State University Extension, "Preventing color transfer by bleeding or crocking", and Janis Stone, "Common remedies to avoid" (hosted copy).
13. US Patent 4,764,176, optical brighteners on pastel goods.
14. Consumer Reports, color-catcher sheet test.
15. Bangee, Wilson, East and Holme, "Antioxidant-induced yellowing of textiles", Polymer Degradation and Stability 50 (1995).
16. Clorox, "Why does bleach turn white clothes yellow?"
17. American Cleaning Institute, Stain Removal Guide and Laundry Basics.
18. Canadian Conservation Institute, Caring for textiles and costumes.
19. Cotton Incorporated, "How to wash cotton clothes", "Shrinking and stretching", "Underarm stains" and "How to unwrinkle clothes without an iron".
20. GINETEX, Care symbols under ISO 3758:2023.

Written from the standards, studies and institutions listed above. Last reviewed October 13, 2026.