Garment-dyed vs. a normal T-shirt — the big difference

You have almost certainly bought a T-shirt that looked three years old after the first wash. Faded colour, shrunken fabric, stiff texture. That is fast fashion.

What is garment-dyeing?

With normal shirts: dye the cotton → weave the fabric → sew the shirt. With garment-dyeing: sew the shirt → dye the shirt. The difference sounds small but it is enormous.

When the finished shirt is dyed as a whole, it shrinks during the process. That means the shirt you receive has already taken its final shape. It will barely shrink further in the wash.

Why it feels better

Garment-dyeing softens the shirt. The fibres are worked during dyeing and take on a characteristic, slightly irregular texture that looks as if the shirt has been worn a hundred times. Bought new, but already an old favourite.

REVØRA and garment-dyeing

To be honest: REVØRA shirts are not garment-dyed. They are made on Tiger Cotton T60011 — 100% combed cotton, 220 gsm, with the blank coming from India. They are only printed after you order, in Germany, using direct-to-garment (DTG) printing: large design on the back, small RØ on the front. At 220 gsm the fabric sits well above thin fast-fashion tees. It hangs. It keeps its shape. It has character.