Can You Unshrink a Wool Sweater?
Wool has some amazing abilities: It can last for decades and keeps you toasty when the weather's cold; even when the fiber is wet, it can keep you warm. But it does require special care, and unfortunately, once wool shrinks, the damage is considered irreversible. "Once an item shrinks, there's no way to salvage it," says Lindsey Boyd, cofounder of The Laundress. The makeup of wool strands and the washing machine's movement are to blame. Each wool fiber is covered with tiny overlapping scales, much like the tiles on a roof, which repel water. Once fibers are spun into yarn and woven into fabric, the scales play a role in shrinkage: As the washing machine twists, turns, and churns a wool sweater, the scales catch on one another and wind up permanently locked together. The result is an item that's thick and matted—and smaller by a size or two. Rewashing and stretching are likely to be in vain; the fabric will only spring back to its newly smaller self. Related: H...
