Care

Made to last

A football shirt is not a normal t-shirt. The fabric is technical polyester, and badges and numbers are heat-pressed or embroidered. Neither copes well with heat. Get a few things right and a shirt lasts decades — plenty of the pieces here are proof.

Care — the essentials

Turn it inside out before it goes in the machine.
30 °C maximum, delicate cycle.
Liquid detergent — and never fabric softener.
Not in the tumble dryer. Ever.
Air dry, out of direct sun.

Before washing

Turn it inside out. This is the single most important step — prints, numbers and sponsor logos then never rub against the drum.
Close zips, including on everything else in the load. An open zip is the most common cause of small holes.
Do not let sweat dry in. If you cannot wash it right away, rinse the shirt in cold water and hang it up. Salt attacks the fibres.
Wash with similar colours. For the first few washes of a new piece, wash it on its own.

Washing

30 °C at most. Cooler is fine too — polyester gets clean at low temperatures.
Delicate or sports cycle, low spin speed.
Liquid detergent, used sparingly. Powder dissolves poorly at low temperatures and stays behind in the fibres.
No fabric softener. It leaves a film on the weave, kills breathability and can lift prints.
No bleach and no heavy-duty detergent with optical brighteners.
Do not overfill the machine. Shirts need room, otherwise they chafe against each other.

Drying

Never tumble dry. It is the fastest way to ruin a print — heat and friction combined.
Air dry in the shade. Direct sun fades colours, red and blue first.
Do not wring it out. Press the water out gently.
Dry flat or over a rail. A narrow hanger presses bumps into the shoulders over time.

Ironing

Usually unnecessary — polyester hangs itself smooth.
If you must: inside out, lowest setting, no steam.
Never directly over prints, badges or numbers. Not even briefly.

Stains

Always treat cold. Warm water sets stains — with blood, grass and sweat, heat makes them permanent.
Rinse from the back rather than rubbing from the front. That pushes the stain out instead of in.
Soak stubborn spots in cold water with a little liquid detergent for half an hour.

Odour

In sports fabrics, odour sits in the fibres rather than in the dirt. Washing hotter does not help — it tends to make it worse.
What works: soak for an hour in cold water with a dash of household vinegar before washing, then wash as usual. The vinegar smell disappears as it dries.
Air the shirt out after wearing before it goes in the basket. Damp and crumpled is how the smell starts in the first place.

Storing

Dry and out of plastic. Sealed airtight, mildew spots form.
Fold heavy or older shirts rather than hanging them — hangers stretch the shoulders over the years.
Store in the dark. Light fades fabric in a wardrobe too, just more slowly.

Older shirts

Pieces from the 80s and 90s are often cotton or a blend, with flocked numbering. Flock turns brittle with age.
Treat them even more gently: cold, hand wash or wool cycle, dry flat.
Do not fold across flocked numbers or stack them face to face — they can stick together.

When in doubt: cold, short, no heat. That way you cannot go wrong with any shirt.

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