Kids' Everyday Tee and Shorts Set

Details

A tee and shorts in 160 GSM combed cotton single jersey, mill-knitted in Ludhiana, Punjab. Machine-knitted cloth, said plainly, because this is the set that goes in the wash twice a week and it is meant to be made at scale rather than on a loom. The handloom items are elsewhere on this shelf and neither line is apologising for the other. The cheats on a children's tee are all about cost per piece. Polyester, or recycled PET yarn, is spun into the jersey under a 100 percent cotton label, because it is cheaper, holds print better and sheds microfibre into every wash. A GSM is printed and never weighed, so 130 is sold as 160 and the tee goes thin by October. The print is plastisol, a PVC ink plasticised with phthalates, which is what cracks off a child's chest after ten washes and is not something anybody wants against skin. And an unshrunk knit drops 8 percent, so a set bought for a 5 year old fits a 4 year old after one wash.

• 100 percent combed cotton by ISO 1833, no polyester and no recycled PET shedding microfibre
• 160 GSM measured to ISO 3801, on every lot
• Water-based pigment print. No plastisol, no PVC, and phthalates screened by GC-MS, none detected.
• No azo dyes above the limit. EN 14362-1, no restricted amine above 5 mg per kg.
• Free formaldehyde below 20 mg per kg, ISO 14184-1
• No metal on the garment, so no nickel release, and no cord at the neck at any size to EN 14682
• Residual shrinkage under 3 percent after five washes, ISO 6330, which is honest for a knit rather than the 8 percent an unshrunk one gives
• Pilling grade 4 to 4 and a half after 2000 rubs, ISO 12945-2, because the yarn is combed
• A water-based print sits in the cloth rather than on top of it, so it looks softer and slightly less sharp than a plastisol print, and it does not crack
• Deep shades give up a very little colour on the first wash