Pre-laundered
Treatment — one of 37 in the glossary
A garment washed as a finished piece before it is sold, so the bulk of its shrinkage has already happened. Beyond stabilising the size it softens the hand and relaxes the fabric, which is why pre-laundered blanks feel broken in on arrival. For a decorator the benefit is dimensional: a print applied to an already-shrunk shirt will not pucker or distort when the customer washes it. Check whether the spec says pre-laundered, preshrunk or compacted, because the three are achieved differently and are not equally effective.