Elastane is the part that wears out first
Everything on this site is a knit built around elastane, and elastane is not really damaged by being worn. It is damaged by heat, by oil, and by being left under tension. The face of the fabric will still look new long after the stretch has gone, which is why a layer that has been washed carelessly feels tired while looking perfectly fine. Almost all of the advice below exists for one reason: to keep the elastane alive, because that is what keeps a sculpt tank sculpting and a legging waistband sitting still.
Washing
Wash at 30C on a gentle or delicates cycle, inside out, with the spin set no higher than 800rpm. Warm water relaxes elastane temporarily; anything above 40C breaks it permanently, and a hard spin drags a wet knit against the drum at the moment it is weakest. Use a liquid non-bio detergent at roughly half the dose you would use for a towel wash. Concentrated powder does not fully dissolve at 30C, and the residue stiffens a fine knit and dulls deep navy over a season.
Close every press stud before washing, and put seamless pieces, power-mesh panels and anything with a bonded edge into a mesh laundry bag. Wash body layers with body layers. One zip or hook belonging to something else in the drum will pull a thread out of a seamless knit in a single cycle, and a run in a circular knit cannot be repaired.
If a piece has been worn hard, rinse it in cool water rather than leaving it damp in a bag. Salt from perspiration crystallises inside the knit and abrades the elastane from within, and the aluminium salts in antiperspirant do the same at the underarm. This is the most common reason a compression knit loses its snap within one season, and it has nothing to do with quality.
Never use fabric conditioner
Fabric conditioner works by coating fibres in a waxy film. On a knit that has to recover, that film is precisely the wrong thing: it lets the elastane slide inside the knitted structure, so the piece stretches further and comes back less, and it blocks the moisture transfer you bought a cotton-modal layer for in the first place. Scent boosters and dryer sheets do the same. If your water is hard and cotton-rich pieces feel board-like, add 80 to 100ml of white vinegar to the rinse instead. Skip bleach altogether: chlorine yellows polyamide and destroys elastane outright.
Drying
Nothing here should see a tumble dryer, on any setting. Dry flat on a towel or a mesh rack, out of direct sun and at least a metre from a radiator or a heated rail. Never hang a wet seamless skirt or a wet legging from a narrow hanger or a line — a saturated knit weighs several times its dry weight and will lengthen under its own weight, permanently. Smooth panels flat with your palm and straighten the waistband while it is damp so it dries at its proper width. A waistband left folded over while drying keeps the fold.
Ironing and pressing
You should not need to iron any of it, since these knits come off a flat dry ready to wear. If a hem has creased, use a cool iron at 110C on the reverse through a cloth, and keep the plate off elasticated waistbands, bonded edges and press studs entirely. Steam held 10cm away is safer than contact. Do not press power mesh: it flattens, goes shiny and does not come back.
Rest, rotation and storage
Elastane recovers by resting. A piece worn two days running will feel slacker on the second day even if it was washed in between, so rotate between two or three and give each at least 24 hours lying flat before it goes back on. Store everything folded in a drawer rather than hanging, because hanging loads the shoulder line of a tank and stretches straps within weeks. Fold seamless pieces loosely instead of pressing a crease along one line.
Pilling, snags and thinning
Recovery knits pill where they rub: the inner thigh on shorts and leggings, under a bag strap, along a seatbelt line. Lift the bobbles off with a fabric comb or a battery pill shaver held flat against the surface, and never pull them, which drags a loop out and leaves a hole. A snagged thread should be worked back through to the inside with a blunt needle, never cut. Thinning at the inner thigh of a legging is abrasion rather than a fault.
What ruins a layer fastest
Chlorinated pools, hot tubs, sun cream, self-tan, massage oil and solvent-based stain removers. Every one of those attacks elastane, and sun cream also stains chalk white permanently. Work stains cold and fast: blot rather than rub, treat perspiration marks with an enzyme detergent worked in with a fingertip and left for twenty minutes, and keep heat away from anything protein-based, which sets it into the fibre.
Questions
The care wording for each style is printed on the inside label and repeated on its product page. If something has come out of the wash looking wrong, email support@fitslike.shop with the style name and a photograph, or read the whole thing at our care guide.
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