I practice a martial art called Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, which is a lot like judo. It's similar to judo, and we wear japanese-style uniforms, which are made out of a very coarse, heavy cotton weave.
You are not supposed to dry your uniform in the dryer, because it will shrink.
I have had my uniform for about 5 months now. I wash it 2-3x/week and I ALWAYS let it hang dry, I've NEVER put it in the dryer before.
My question is, is it now safe to dry my gi in the dryer? Or will it still shrink? I was hoping you fabric experts could help me answer my question. There are a lot of conflicting answers when I asked the question in a martial arts forum!
You did not say what temperature water you wash your uniform with, but generally if machine drying is not recommended, you shouldn't. What you may wish to try is drying the uniform on "low" or "air fluff" for a few minutes to take out the creases, then hang to finish drying. If by some chance you still wish to machine dry the thing, by all means remove it from the dryer before it is totally dry. Over drying/drying items to a crisp will certainly cause shrinkage.
It will shrink if you dry it with any heat. It's not the water (as long as you are washing in cold or warm) that will shrink it. The heat in the dryer is what causes shrinking.
What I do with things I don't want to shrink is lay them flat or hang to dry. (sweaters get laid flat. They stretch when you hang them. Your gi will hang just fine.) Then when they are just about Totally dry, I toss them in the dryer with NO HEAT, just on air fluff. That lets them tumble and softens them up. That way, you can bend at the elbows and knees when you put them on. ;) If your dryer has a NO HEAT setting, you can do the same. I've never had anything shrink this way, and the clothes are way more comfortable to wear.
And check your fabric care labels really carefully. If you are getting uniforms from Japan, most likely they are 100% cotton. If you are getting Japanese-style uniforms made somewhere else, they may be a cotton/poly blend. Uh........IIRC, "Ironman" brand is a blend usually....not sure about any others. (My brother-in-law is an Aikido Sensei. I've made hakama, etc. for him. Before I made any of his stuff, we had looong discussions about what he liked/hated about uniforms he bought different places. I did his whole kit in a heavy weight linen. That will also shrink, but I took care of that by washing all 10 yards of the fabric in hot water and drying thoroughly before the clothing was made.) Most of the ones I've looked at feel like 100% cotton or linen, but are actually a blend of some sort. Blends will shrink a whole lot less than 100% natural fibers.
My son was a tai quon do black belt (he can't do it anymore--health problems), and we always washed his gi in hot water and detergent, and dried it in the drier. It never shrank. And it had to be done this way--it was white, and I worked 70 hours a week--no time for fussy laundry.
OP said "...which are made out of a very coarse, heavy cotton weave." IMHO, a uniform of (100%) 'coarse, heavy cotton' would suffer a lot of shrinkage if dried in a drier. Of course if the fabric were treated to hot-water-hot-drier *prior* to making the garment, it would probably be just fine.
If you're brave, take an oversized one and let it shrink. Most shrinkage will take place in the first couple of wash/dry cycles. With luck, the shrunken size will fit. (When I studied judo, a gi wasn't too expensive.
My son's gi was cotton poplin--a coarse heavy cotton. Poplin is considered a form of canvas. I wonder if there's some other reason that hand washing and line drying is recommended. I can't think of one.
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