Material
Jersey
A cotton knit that washes cool and easily, stretches out of shape if handled wet, and pills if you scrub it. Almost everything works on it as long as you are gentle and stay under 30 degrees.
- SurfacePorous
- WashingMachine
- Colour run riskMedium
- Reviewed1 September 2026
What jersey can and cannot take
- Heat Use with care
- Water and soaking Tolerates it
- Acids, including vinegar Tolerates it
- Strong alkalis Use with care
- Solvents Use with care
- Chlorine bleach Avoid
- Abrasives Use with care
Always test on a hidden area first and let it dry before you treat the visible mark.
General rules for jersey
Support the fabric rather than stretching it. A knit under tension while it is wet stays stretched, so treat a mark with the garment lying flat rather than held up under a running tap, and shake it gently back into shape before drying. Wash at 30 degrees, air dry flat or on a hanger with the shoulders supported, and keep it out of the tumble dryer. Work a stain from the back where you can, because the loops of a knit let liquid through more readily than a tight weave does. Do not scrub a knit surface: it pills, and a pilled patch is as visible as the mark you were treating.
Check the label
Jersey is a knit rather than a weave, which is where its behaviour comes from. It is usually cotton, often with a few percent elastane, and the care label temperature is normally 30 degrees. The elastane is the part that a hot wash and a tumble dryer destroy first, and once it has gone the garment does not return to shape.
Stains on jersey
- Baby sick Lift off any solids, rinse Jersey from the back with cool water, pre-treat with biological detergent, then wa...
- Blood Blot first, then use cold water and a tiny amount of compatible detergent. Work from the edge, rinse or blot...
- Body oil Blot jersey, pretreat a permitted washable patch with liquid detergent, rinse and use a cool labelled wash. A...
- Breast milk Blot and cold-rinse a label-approved washable item. Use your compatible biological liquid detergent and a per...
- Bronzer Lift loose bronzer from jersey before it is rubbed in. Blot cream bronzer, follow the material or care label,...
- Coffee Blot first. If the label permits, gently rinse cool water through the back of the mark, supporting the fabric...
- Concealer Lift the concealer, flush Jersey from the back with cool water, pre-treat the oily residue with one drop of w...
- Cooking grease Lift and blot cooking grease from Jersey, absorb the oil, pretreat both sides with washing-up liquid for 10 m...
- Deodorant Rub fresh white marks off dry with a cloth. For yellowing, lay the top flat, work a dilute white vinegar solu...
- Hair dye Blot Jersey, rinse the back with cool water, pre-treat with liquid laundry detergent and wash it alone to the...
- Lipstick Lift lipstick from Jersey, work from the reverse with a drop of washing-up liquid, rinse cool, wash to the ca...
- Motor oil Blot motor oil from Jersey, absorb the residue, pretreat both sides with a little washing-up liquid, wash to...
- Nail polish Lift free polish without rubbing. A small mark on plain washable compatible cloth may respond to the linked l...
- Period blood Lay the garment flat, flush the mark from the back with cold water, work in a drop of washing up liquid with...
- Pet urine Blot up as much urine as possible, rinse the mark from the back with cool water, work in biological laundry d...
- Sweat Rinse the jersey garment from the back with cool water, work biological liquid detergent into the damp mark f...
- Tomato sauce Lift tomato sauce from Jersey, flush from the reverse with cool water, pretreat the remaining film, wash to t...
Jersey is the fabric most t shirts, sweatshirts and simple dresses are made of. It is a knit, so it stretches, drapes and lets liquid through more freely than a woven cotton of the same weight.
The knit is why it is easy and why it is fragile
Open loops mean a spill goes straight through to the other side, which is useful, because you can flush a mark out from behind rather than pushing it deeper. The same structure is why a wet jersey held up by one corner stretches and stays stretched, and why scrubbing raises a fuzz of broken fibre ends that catches the light.
Elastane changes the rules
Most jersey now has a small percentage of elastane in it for recovery. It is the least heat tolerant thing in the garment. A hot wash or a tumble dry does not just risk setting a stain, it permanently slackens the fabric, and a neckline that has gone will not come back.
What it does tolerate
Cold soaking, biological detergent, repeated rinsing and time. On white cotton jersey an oxygen based treatment is available. Chlorine bleach is not: it yellows cotton and destroys elastane outright.
Similar materials
Sources
What we checked and when. Where a manufacturer instruction disagrees with anything here, follow the manufacturer.
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Cotton garment care guide, Asket
manufacturer
Clothing maker guidance to wash cotton jersey at 30 degrees or by hand for a spot treatment, to avoid the tumble dryer because cotton shrinks in it, to air dry out of direct sunlight, to shake and gently stretch a jersey garment back into shape while it is damp, and to keep bleach off coloured cotton.
Checked 1 September 2026
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Workwear care guide, Essential Workwear
specialist
UK workwear supplier guidance that cotton garments wash at 30 degrees and polycotton at 30 to 60, that aprons and chef wear are laundered at 60 depending on use, that a mild detergent is preferred to bleach, that a stain is pre treated before washing because a high temperature bakes it in, and that printed items are washed inside out and never ironed over the print.
Checked 1 September 2026
-
How to read furniture cleaning codes, Plumbs
specialist
Upholstery specialist explanation of the W, S, W/S and X cleaning codes, with the instruction to spot clean in an inconspicuous place first, to blot rather than rub, to put the cleaner on the cloth rather than on the fabric, and to prefer distilled water because tap water can leave rings.
Checked 1 September 2026