Sweat, chlorine, sunscreen: How your sports shirt survives the summer
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The end of July is the time when sports shirts are put to the ultimate test. Not the autumn jacket, not the winter sweater – the thin, breathable shirt that has to endure sweat, sunscreen, chlorinated water, and salt air every single day. That is exactly why we aren’t talking about a new design today, but rather about how to get your shirt through the summer without it looking like a rag after four weeks.
Why summer is the toughest season for sportswear
Chemically speaking, sweat isn't just water; it’s a mixture of salts, urea, and fats. These get trapped in the fibers and are often not completely removed when washing at low temperatures – the result is that typical musty odor that returns after the second wear, no matter how often you wash it. Furthermore, chlorinated water from the pool attacks the fibers themselves, making them brittle over time. And sunscreen leaves behind greasy stains that can actually get baked into the fabric at high wash temperatures instead of coming out.
With our organic cotton shirts, there’s another factor: we print every design individually using print-on-demand directly onto the fabric. A print that is washed incorrectly loses its vibrancy faster than a shirt left sitting on a shelf. This is nothing to worry about; it’s simply a matter of habit.
What really helps
Turn your sports shirts inside out before washing – this protects both the print and the outer fibers that have had the most contact with your skin, sunscreen, and backpack straps. Wash at a maximum of 30 degrees Celsius (86°F) using a sports detergent without fabric softener: fabric softener coats the fibers like a film and blocks the very breathability you bought the shirt for in the first place. If you have time to rinse the shirt out briefly the same day after swimming in an outdoor pool before tossing it in the hamper, that prevents the chlorine from having too much time to settle into the fibers.
Drying: air dry, not in direct sunlight and not in the dryer. UV radiation fades colors, and the heat from a dryer is simply too much for most technical fabrics – elasticity and print quality suffer first.
Why this matters to us
At GeorgWerner, we deliberately avoid mass production, choosing instead to print each shirt individually when it is ordered. That is precisely why it is important to us that a shirt doesn't look like it’s been worn ten times after just a few weeks of summer. A shirt that lasts three summers instead of one is ultimately a more sustainable choice than any new item, no matter how highly organic-certified it may be – simply because it doesn't need to be replaced.
In short: wash inside out, wash cool, no fabric softener, air dry. It’s no extra effort that costs you time – but it is one that will do your shirt good all summer long.
