Will My Nylon Fabrics Shrink In The Dryer?

Fabrics can be more complicated than they seem, and it is very tempting to treat every fabric the same, but each fabric has their own unique properties that make them stand out.

Nylon Fabric (also called polyamide fabric) is a man made fibre made from plastic, unique for its strength and water resistance properties making it suitable for wide variety of garments.

Does nylon shrink in the dryer? Nylon fabrics can shrink in the dryer when using higher temperatures, but is easily preventable by using lower temperatures or simply avoid the dryer completely.

The likelihood and extent of shrinkage largely boils down to the way the garment was manufactured as higher quality production methods will less likely result in shrinkage.

Nylon fabrics are commonly blended with other fibers which can influence the properties of the fabric which can make it more or less likely to shrink depending on the fiber.

It is always a good practice to check the care and maintenance instructions of the garment before putting it in the dryer to ensure that you are doing it right.

Nylon fabrics are Heat Set at lower temperatures

Heat Setting fabrics is a step in the manufacturing process which improves the overall stability of the fiber by effectively shrinking the fibres to provide a better structure, making the fabric stronger overall.

Unlike other fibres, Nylon has a higher chance of yellowing at high temperatures, and it happens to coincide with the maximum temperatures achieved by house hold dryers.

This means that the protection afforded to Nylon from Heat Setting cannot be as high as other fabrics making it more susceptible to shrinkage at higher temperatures.

Nylon fabrics can even more vulnerable to shrinkage if the manufacturing process takes short cuts heat setting by using lower temperatures or reducing the time.