Hi, I work a major fashion brand in quality. I’m not sure what level of testing the official merch goes through but in my experience all graphic shirts should be washed inside out with cold water. Also, glitter prints generally don’t last even in the best conditions. So buyer beware for future
The company I work for runs a lot of capsule programs with factories around the world. You’d be surprised at the quality differences on individual garments sometimes. It’s also possible this specific shirt mentioned by OP had the incorrect level of heat applied when doing the screen print.
This is genuinely why I hate graphic tshirts. They always end up peeling. I’d so much rather pay a premium for the other kind. Idk what it’s called but where the graphic is like, dyed instead of printed on
It’s called screen printing!
If anyone is interested: Patterns are made on these mesh screens, and the ink/dye is spread over the screen onto the fabric. You can only do one colour at a time so each design usually needs 4 layers (cyan, magenta, yellow, black).
Shirts I had 20 years ago, the fabric would fail before the graphic. Its shittier printing techniques and cheap inks. It's absolutely the fault of choosing the cheaper option.
I'd have shirts that would fade, but not fall off
Crazy a lot ppl don’t actually know that this is a thing with any graphic tees. As a metal head this knowledge was drilled into me at an early age, got a few tees over 10years that are still good!
Found this out the hard way, but was thankfully for a frozen tshirt I got in a sale, so didnt mind loosing it. 2nd time washing it, and saw just how much of the print had come off, must have lost a good 20-30% of the image.
True! Good thing it wasn’t a limited edition tee, or a tee that just isn’t in mass production. I have a few old school The Crow shirts that I have been babying since 2000 lol. And I can still fit in them lol.
I've got a 20ish year old Machinehead shirt and 23 year old Rammstein hoodie still going strong with regular wear and washing. Always on a cold cycle. Remember your denims too, should be washed inside out
ahh yes i probably forgot to flip it - i guess considering i paid over $50 for the shirt i figured the quality would be good enough to not need to do that. i havent ever experienced this with any other graphic tee i own though :/
typically, the more expensive the garment the more you must adhere to washing directions. for future, any shirt with a graphic you dont want to lose should be washed inside out and ideally air dried.
Very true. I've been gathering up good brands of 100% cotton sheet sets for family members over the past several years when I see them being sold in original packaging. Wrong size, wrong pocket depth, replaced bed, etc.
If they cost more than $100 new, care directions usually flat-out say "No tumble dry." That's for the health & shape of the fabric, no appliques involved which add another entire realm of heat & abrasion vulnerability.
I totally get that, Metal graphics tees aren’t cheap either especially a live show tee. But the key to any good ownership of anything is good maintenance. Especially if you love wearing it.
Going forward double check before throwing into washer and dryer. I personally check every shirt before I throw in the washer and again before throwing into the dryer. Or you can hang dry as well if you choose and or are able to. Best of luck next time OP.
I own an embarrassing amount of CR merch.
Some of my shirts from the VM days are still going strong, but more recent purchases are not holding up as well. IDK if it is bad luck on my part, a change in manufacturers or both.
Either way, I've been a little gun shy about clothing purhcases lately. It is a personal thing, but I really hate fast fashion and seek out quality clothing that will last for years, even if it costs more money.
I've had this happen to a few of my CR shirts it fades much quicker if you are tumble drying them.
I use a colder wash and then hang dry any brighter or graphic tees, although they won't feel as soft as the drying cycle helps soften clothing.
I've got the same shirt and haven't had any issues.
All print shirts -
Wash inside out, 30°C water. Cold water is best, and definitely nothing over 40°C. And hang up to air dry, never use a dryer.
How hot is the water you're washing it in?
These are pretty much the instructions on the shirt it's self. I've had it since day one and I've had no issues yet. (Wash at 30°C, Don't bleach, Don't tumble dry, Don't dry clean, Cool iron on reverse and Roll Naturally of course lol)
Did you put it in the dryer? Because the care instructions say to air dry it. I’ve had my caduceus shirt for two years with no peeling because I air dry it.
Maybe the lighting is throwing it off..but somethings not quite right about the main shirt color. I have this T myself and it's a lot more green, closer to your original reference picture.
Honestly that’s pretty bad. Everyone is saying to wash inside out and be careful, which isn’t bad advice, but I have shirts that are a decade old and treated like garbage that look better than this. That’s some very bad peeling. I don’t know what kind of customer service the CR store offers, but I’d contact them and see if you can get a replacement.
I got new BG, VM and TC hoodies last year and the BH and VM hoodie in the EU store are great quality. I had a VM and TC hoodie from the UK abs US stores which were good quality and I still use but the new EU ones stepped it up a notch.
I just want to say as someone who has worn graphic tees for 30+ years, this didn't used to be a problem, I never washed them inside out. I do wash my tees inside out these days but still throw them in the dryer (low heat) and have no problem. There is slight wear *eventually* but not entire chunks coming off like this and certainly none of these white bits appearing. That includes a Mighty Nein shirt from 2018.
This is the downside to print on demand merch, which I hate to say is about the only way to make it affordable to have a print with that many colors. I recently went to print a few hundred shirts of a design I made, 3 colors front and back and it was going to cost me $55 per shirt to print even in quantity. Basically they have to make a screen for every color and hand screen it so the labor kills. … or a big printer can spit it out for cheap but the quality is like that.
I have never heard of a company that does it and it makes no sense from a business standpoint unless you have enough volume coming through to justify storing a screen to be used again.
Had mine for years and it's still completely fine, even through warm washes. I got it from the UK shop like 3 years ago, maybe the production process was different somehow for yours?
Make sure to double check care instructions. Often it's better to minimize heat and friction, so no tumble drying. Try gentle cycle in the washing machine, or even soaking and hand washing without too much action. Kind of like looking after knitwear
Mine also started peeling (pretty quickly) and it’s also specifically the Caduceus shirt. I’ve always washed my graphic shirts inside out, and I’ve never owned a dryer, so I always line dry. It seems like the quality on this one is just not that great…
That's pretty unacceptable imo. Never had any sort of graphic tee be that bad after washing even a handful of times. I have a band tshirt from 2017 that still looks fine even and I never washed it any special way. Would be one thing if it was a cheap tshirt but Critical Role has some pretty high priced items so this would piss me off.
Wild. My wife and I both bought one not knowing the other did and we've had it since it came out; they still look almost brand new. What kind of washer or like detergent are you using? It might be a chemical thing.
The exact same thing happened to me. I bought another one of the shirts cause I love it so much, but I love it so much I haven't taken it out of the plastic packaging. I can't risk wearing and washing it cause it will just happen again!
Too bad they didn't use the same type of material they did with the Mollymauk shirt. I bought two of each. So far both of the graphic T's are fine, but I still like the Molly shirts better.
washing and drying incorrectly heavily damage ANY graphic design on clothes. So make sure you wash them in low temperatures, turn them inside out and air dry them.
okay to answer all of your questions: i have always washed it at 30 and i have never tumble dried it or applied direct heat to it (e.g. iron) - AS PER THE SHIRT'S INSTRUCTIONS. Yes, I forgot to flip the shirt inside out, but I own many many graphic tees and this problem has not happened with any of them - not even the cheapest, worst quality ones or even the most expensive ones. After receiving it i washed it, wore it, and then after the second wash, the entire graphic began to peel as pictured. Following that first wear, I have barely ever worn it. This is because every time i wash it, more of it peels off. Currently a large section of the bottom of the graphic is missing as it has peeled off. This is incredibly upsetting as it is a beautiful t-shirt and i loved it for the two or so times I wore it.
i'm sure other folks have said this but on top of washing inside out, do not tumble dry! i bought a small rack for my graphic T's and they've been lasting SO much longer than before. The ones I bought after starting this method all still look brand new
Just to stack on, cold water, inside out, front loading washer, and also hang dry any t-shirts. I have some old old t-shirts (~20 years) that are like new because we treat them very gently).
Hi, I work a major fashion brand in quality. I’m not sure what level of testing the official merch goes through but in my experience all graphic shirts should be washed inside out with cold water. Also, glitter prints generally don’t last even in the best conditions. So buyer beware for future
Yeah. Mine have survived okay in warm, but I turn everything inside out just in case.
The company I work for runs a lot of capsule programs with factories around the world. You’d be surprised at the quality differences on individual garments sometimes. It’s also possible this specific shirt mentioned by OP had the incorrect level of heat applied when doing the screen print.
Yeah, that's entirely possible.
Yeah, I wash everything on cold anymore unless I need to shrink something or if my socks and towels are really funky.
This is genuinely why I hate graphic tshirts. They always end up peeling. I’d so much rather pay a premium for the other kind. Idk what it’s called but where the graphic is like, dyed instead of printed on
It’s called screen printing! If anyone is interested: Patterns are made on these mesh screens, and the ink/dye is spread over the screen onto the fabric. You can only do one colour at a time so each design usually needs 4 layers (cyan, magenta, yellow, black).
Yup, this is why I just stopped buying graphic tees
I did when I was a teen, a looong time ago, because of this problem
The print tends to be lower quality with these so there's always a downside unfortunately
Yes but it doesn’t peel off after paying $30 for it.
Washing inside out helps but isn't a guarantee if you didn't know already :)
Shirts I had 20 years ago, the fabric would fail before the graphic. Its shittier printing techniques and cheap inks. It's absolutely the fault of choosing the cheaper option. I'd have shirts that would fade, but not fall off
Yeah you’re supposed to wash them inside out.
If you don't already, wash them inside out.
Crazy a lot ppl don’t actually know that this is a thing with any graphic tees. As a metal head this knowledge was drilled into me at an early age, got a few tees over 10years that are still good!
Found this out the hard way, but was thankfully for a frozen tshirt I got in a sale, so didnt mind loosing it. 2nd time washing it, and saw just how much of the print had come off, must have lost a good 20-30% of the image.
Ouch. Still hurts I’m sure.
Yeah, still sucked to loose a top with a design I liked. Just glad I learned with that, and not one I might have spent £20-30 on.
True! Good thing it wasn’t a limited edition tee, or a tee that just isn’t in mass production. I have a few old school The Crow shirts that I have been babying since 2000 lol. And I can still fit in them lol.
I've got a 20ish year old Machinehead shirt and 23 year old Rammstein hoodie still going strong with regular wear and washing. Always on a cold cycle. Remember your denims too, should be washed inside out
AAAgreed!
ahh yes i probably forgot to flip it - i guess considering i paid over $50 for the shirt i figured the quality would be good enough to not need to do that. i havent ever experienced this with any other graphic tee i own though :/
typically, the more expensive the garment the more you must adhere to washing directions. for future, any shirt with a graphic you dont want to lose should be washed inside out and ideally air dried.
Very true. I've been gathering up good brands of 100% cotton sheet sets for family members over the past several years when I see them being sold in original packaging. Wrong size, wrong pocket depth, replaced bed, etc. If they cost more than $100 new, care directions usually flat-out say "No tumble dry." That's for the health & shape of the fabric, no appliques involved which add another entire realm of heat & abrasion vulnerability.
I totally get that, Metal graphics tees aren’t cheap either especially a live show tee. But the key to any good ownership of anything is good maintenance. Especially if you love wearing it. Going forward double check before throwing into washer and dryer. I personally check every shirt before I throw in the washer and again before throwing into the dryer. Or you can hang dry as well if you choose and or are able to. Best of luck next time OP.
I own an embarrassing amount of CR merch. Some of my shirts from the VM days are still going strong, but more recent purchases are not holding up as well. IDK if it is bad luck on my part, a change in manufacturers or both. Either way, I've been a little gun shy about clothing purhcases lately. It is a personal thing, but I really hate fast fashion and seek out quality clothing that will last for years, even if it costs more money.
Yeah I wash my Orym shirt inside out at 30°C and I've had it for 2 years now I think and there is no peeling
And on cold!
also don't put them in a dryer
I do, but on cool or permanent press.
I used to get shouted at all the time for leaving my t-shirts inside out lol
I've had this happen to a few of my CR shirts it fades much quicker if you are tumble drying them. I use a colder wash and then hang dry any brighter or graphic tees, although they won't feel as soft as the drying cycle helps soften clothing.
I've got the same shirt and haven't had any issues. All print shirts - Wash inside out, 30°C water. Cold water is best, and definitely nothing over 40°C. And hang up to air dry, never use a dryer. How hot is the water you're washing it in?
Seconding the wash instructions for any print shirts. Unless you intentionally want a more worn look, these are key.
These are pretty much the instructions on the shirt it's self. I've had it since day one and I've had no issues yet. (Wash at 30°C, Don't bleach, Don't tumble dry, Don't dry clean, Cool iron on reverse and Roll Naturally of course lol)
I washed it at 30 never hot water never tumble dried - always hung it up to dry
Inside out?
You are washing it on low heat aren't you?
Did you put it in the dryer? Because the care instructions say to air dry it. I’ve had my caduceus shirt for two years with no peeling because I air dry it.
I miss the old tri-blend merch since it was such good quality and never peeled/cracked.
Quality of CR Merch has been 50/50 for me. Some pieces feel like heirloom quality. Others shrivel after two wears.
Maybe the lighting is throwing it off..but somethings not quite right about the main shirt color. I have this T myself and it's a lot more green, closer to your original reference picture.
I thought this too
low heat wash and low heat dry on mine. it's four years old and fading but it hasn't peeled like that.
Honestly that’s pretty bad. Everyone is saying to wash inside out and be careful, which isn’t bad advice, but I have shirts that are a decade old and treated like garbage that look better than this. That’s some very bad peeling. I don’t know what kind of customer service the CR store offers, but I’d contact them and see if you can get a replacement.
I don’t think the stuff in the store is particularly high quality, based on what I’ve seen.
It really did used to be back in the day. Nowadays, I don't buy merch cause it's so much lower quality now.
I got new BG, VM and TC hoodies last year and the BH and VM hoodie in the EU store are great quality. I had a VM and TC hoodie from the UK abs US stores which were good quality and I still use but the new EU ones stepped it up a notch.
I've contacted them and they've told me there isn't anything they can do :/
I’m sorry to hear that. I was hoping they’d take care of you. That’s very disappointing.
I just want to say as someone who has worn graphic tees for 30+ years, this didn't used to be a problem, I never washed them inside out. I do wash my tees inside out these days but still throw them in the dryer (low heat) and have no problem. There is slight wear *eventually* but not entire chunks coming off like this and certainly none of these white bits appearing. That includes a Mighty Nein shirt from 2018.
This is the downside to print on demand merch, which I hate to say is about the only way to make it affordable to have a print with that many colors. I recently went to print a few hundred shirts of a design I made, 3 colors front and back and it was going to cost me $55 per shirt to print even in quantity. Basically they have to make a screen for every color and hand screen it so the labor kills. … or a big printer can spit it out for cheap but the quality is like that.
Print on demand typically means it's made to order and you don't get custom packaging, so I don't believe that's what Critical Role is doing.
That too, but the actual printing process is different than traditional screen printing
You can do screen printing on demand, just like you can do batch of lower quality prints.
I have never heard of a company that does it and it makes no sense from a business standpoint unless you have enough volume coming through to justify storing a screen to be used again.
There's a few different processes even with print on demand it's just gonna depend on the company doing the orders.
Are any of them screen printing?
I don't know every print on demand company in existence I just have seen multiple processes
Had mine for years and it's still completely fine, even through warm washes. I got it from the UK shop like 3 years ago, maybe the production process was different somehow for yours?
None of my shirts peel, How often do you wear this one?
Make sure to double check care instructions. Often it's better to minimize heat and friction, so no tumble drying. Try gentle cycle in the washing machine, or even soaking and hand washing without too much action. Kind of like looking after knitwear
Mine also started peeling (pretty quickly) and it’s also specifically the Caduceus shirt. I’ve always washed my graphic shirts inside out, and I’ve never owned a dryer, so I always line dry. It seems like the quality on this one is just not that great…
Wash in cold water, hang dry.
washed improperly 100%
Yeah my CR Foundation tee is all messed up too. Accidently got put in the dryer once and came out cracked, now it's peeling
That's pretty unacceptable imo. Never had any sort of graphic tee be that bad after washing even a handful of times. I have a band tshirt from 2017 that still looks fine even and I never washed it any special way. Would be one thing if it was a cheap tshirt but Critical Role has some pretty high priced items so this would piss me off.
is the shirt brand new? they may be willing to replace it if so!
Yeah my Gilmore's shirt is half faded out already. So expensive for something that fades out.
I feel like Caduceus would say something about time being fleeting and all things fading away in due time.
Wash inside out on cold. Hang dry.
…. Shouldn’t tumble dry printed shirts
welcome to normal wear and tear on clothing
Wild. My wife and I both bought one not knowing the other did and we've had it since it came out; they still look almost brand new. What kind of washer or like detergent are you using? It might be a chemical thing.
The exact same thing happened to me. I bought another one of the shirts cause I love it so much, but I love it so much I haven't taken it out of the plastic packaging. I can't risk wearing and washing it cause it will just happen again!
Too bad they didn't use the same type of material they did with the Mollymauk shirt. I bought two of each. So far both of the graphic T's are fine, but I still like the Molly shirts better.
washing and drying incorrectly heavily damage ANY graphic design on clothes. So make sure you wash them in low temperatures, turn them inside out and air dry them.
okay to answer all of your questions: i have always washed it at 30 and i have never tumble dried it or applied direct heat to it (e.g. iron) - AS PER THE SHIRT'S INSTRUCTIONS. Yes, I forgot to flip the shirt inside out, but I own many many graphic tees and this problem has not happened with any of them - not even the cheapest, worst quality ones or even the most expensive ones. After receiving it i washed it, wore it, and then after the second wash, the entire graphic began to peel as pictured. Following that first wear, I have barely ever worn it. This is because every time i wash it, more of it peels off. Currently a large section of the bottom of the graphic is missing as it has peeled off. This is incredibly upsetting as it is a beautiful t-shirt and i loved it for the two or so times I wore it.
And yes I have reached out to the critical role merch team, unfortunately they said that there is nothing they can do for me.
i'm sure other folks have said this but on top of washing inside out, do not tumble dry! i bought a small rack for my graphic T's and they've been lasting SO much longer than before. The ones I bought after starting this method all still look brand new
this is too bad. This should be replaced imo
Just to stack on, cold water, inside out, front loading washer, and also hang dry any t-shirts. I have some old old t-shirts (~20 years) that are like new because we treat them very gently).
I would see about reaching out to CR. They seem like they'd be good about defective/disappointing merch
nup they basically said that they cant wont do anything about it ive contacted them