6 Clothing Items You Should Never Toss in the Dryer, According to an Expert
Avoid this common laundry mistake.
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After doing a load of laundry, tossing the whole pile in the dryer often seems like the most convenient option. After all, sorting through your clean clothes, inspecting each tag, and following the designated drying recommendations can be a tedious and time-consuming task. While handing the job off to your appliance is a whole lot easier, for some clothing items, it’s doing more harm than good. “Heat, tumbling, and friction can be surprisingly hard on clothing,” says Amy Chernoff, vice president of marketing at appliance retailer AJ Madison. “Some fabrics shrink, fade, stretch out, crack, warp, or lose their shape when exposed to high heat, especially over time.”
If you’ve been blindly deferring to your dryer, you might be dealing with shrunken sweaters, stretched-out leggings, cracked vinyl shirts, and faded jeans—all of which can instantly ruin an outfit. To preserve your wardrobe and keep its contents looking fresher for longer, there are a few items you should never put in the dryer. With these delicate garments, air drying or dry cleaning will protect their color, shape, and texture. “The safest habit is to read the care label, turn items inside out when drying, and when in doubt, hang them to dry,” Chernoff says. For fresher, longer-lasting clothes, here are all the clothing items you should never put in the dryer.
More laundry care tips and tricks:
Fragile Fabrics
If you’ve been throwing your silk skirts and knit cardigans in the dryer, you might want to think twice. While wool and cashmere shrink and stiffen in the dryer, silk fabrics lose their pretty shine, and airy materials like chiffon get wrinkled and warped. “Delicate fabrics should be hung to dry because the dryer can snag, shrink, or weaken them,” Chernoff says.
Workout Clothes
Stretchy activewear like yoga pants and leggings never belong in the dryer. That’s because athletic clothes are made with spandex and elastics that break down in the high heat, which, over time, causes the pieces to become baggy. And for waterproof gear, the dryer wears away at the protective coating. Keep your workout clothes in tip-top shape by air drying them.
Underwire Bras
Other elastic garments that don’t mix well with the dryer’s heat are bras and shapewear. Putting these clothing items in the dryer breaks down the stretchy material and warps the underwires. To protect their shape and support, after removing the excess water with a towel, air dry them, either lying them flat or hanging them by the center band.
Dark-Wash Denim
While a lot of jeans can survive the dryer, dark-wash denim doesn’t like the heat. “Even though denim seems sturdy, it can shrink, stiffen, or lose its original fit in the dryer,” Chernoff says. The high temperatures can tighten and fade raw denim, causing them to look worn out and become ill-fitting. Letting them air dry inside out is the best drying method.
Embellished Garments
If your clothes have embellished details like lace, sequins, or beads, keep them far away from the dryer, where they can snag, crack, or rip off and damage the dryer’s drum. Chernoff adds that shirts with graphics are also a no-go, since the heat can melt or distort the design. Protect these pieces by lying them flat to air dry (hanging them will stretch them out).
Bathing Suits
Tossing your bathing suits in the dryer is another recipe for disaster. With its intense heat, your dryer can weaken and melt the elastic fibers of your swimwear and quickly fade its color. Instead, soak up the excess water with a towel and let your swimwear air dry lying flat in a well-ventilated, shaded area.
Lilly Blomquist is the associate editor at The Pioneer Woman, where she writes lifestyle stories across a wide range of topics—including news, entertainment, holidays, food, and more.
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