What should be considered when choosing between a 50/50 Blend T-Shirt or a 100% cotton? Aside from some personal preference, here are the differences.
50/50 Blend T-Shirts are a blend of Cotton and Polyester. Polyester is more durable than cotton, it holds its shape better than 100% Cotton (no shrinking). On Dark colored T-Shirts, the polyester will hold the color much longer too!
50% Polyester/50% Cotton (50/50)
- More Durable
- Color Lasts Longer
- Hotter in warm weather
- Does not shrink much
- Not as soft as Cotton
100% Cotton T-Shirts in contrast to the 50/50 T-Shirts are less durable, the T-Shirt color will fade faster and they will shrink a little (Although most T-Shirts today are Pre-Shrunk cotton to avoid some of this problem). They will be much more comfortable to wear, and keep you cooler in hot weather!
100% Cotton
- Less Durable
- Color of the shirt fades over time
- Softer and more comfortable
- Cooler in warm weather
- May shrink slightly when washed.
There are also other blends available that try and get a better balance between the two, like a 60/40 blend, and many sweatshirts are 90/10 or 80/20 just to complicate things.
The choice is yours, there is no right or wrong answer here. But here is my theory, kids are messy, and they don’t seem to be bothered by the heat, so I prefer 50/50 for the kids, and 100% cotton for the adults.
Thats just my 2 cents.
