History Main / ShrunkInTheWash

* In the Creator/TexAvery cartoon "Little 'Tinker", a skunk, trying to attract girls, mimics FrankSinatra, buying a "Frankie Suit", a huge pile of clothes he's dwarfed in until he sprinkles himself with a watering can and it shrinks up and contracts, ending with him looking like a walking broomstick.

* Sweetie Belle tries to help with the laundry and ruins her sister Rarity's designer cashmere sweater in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "[[MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E5SisterhoovesSocial Sisterhooves Social]]". It instantly shrinks from full-size to minuscule on the clothesline the moment Rarity mentions what happens to incorrectly-washed woolen garments.

Not in media, however, where this trope is taken to the extreme. Even the slightest dash of water could reduce an expensive three-piece suit to the size of atoms. Even things that shouldn't logically shrink aren't safe from incorrect cleaning!

* ''VideoGame/DayOfTheTentacle'' has a puzzle where you must put a wooly sweater in a dryer for 100 years so it'll become wearable for a bald hamster.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''Series/EerieIndiana'' has the episode ''[[IncredibleShrinkingMan The Incredible Shrinking Stanley]]'', in which Stanley gets splashed with special soap from the Eerie laundry mat and starts shrinking.
* ''Series/MrBean's'' Teddy was shrunk in the wash in ''Tee Off, Mr. Bean''. Of course, he's back to normal again next episode.
* ''Literature/TheSaddleClub'': In ''Show Ponies Part 1'' Ashley rode Comanche. Veronica gave Ashley her coat after it shrunk in the wash since it wouldn't fit her anymore.
* ''Series/SesameStreet'' had an episode in the 1990's where Baby Bear got a new tie from his aunt. After it blows away in the wind and lands in the mud, Baby Bear washes it only for it to shrink down to finger size, leaving him to spend the rest of the episode's plot trying to find a way to fix it.

* ''WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts''
** ''Donald Gets Drafted'': DonaldDuck is outfitted with an army uniform several sizes too big, which is doused with water and shrinks until it fits.
** ''Don Donald'': At the end, Donald falls into a puddle and his huge sombrero shrinks into a tiny beanie.
** ''Pluto's Sweater'': In trying to take off the sweater, Pluto falls into a pond and the sweater shrinks around his head. Minnie takes it off and puts it on Figaro, who had been laughing at Pluto the whole time.
** ''Hello Aloha'': Goofy creates a grass hut to live in, but the rains cause it to shrink around him and it turns into a grass skirt for him.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' short ''The Zoot Cat'', after Tom falls into the fishbowl, his zoot suit shrinks until it pops off. Jerry then jumps into it, and it fits perfectly.
* Subverted in the ''WesternAnimation/JosieAndThePussyCats'' episode ''A Greenthumb Is Nota Goldfinger''. All six protagonists have been captured by Amazon basin natives, who plan to shrink the Pussy Cats' heads in their potion cauldron. To prove that Pussy Cat magic is stronger than the natives' magic, Alexandra dunks her brother's shirt into the potion, which has no effect. Alexander's shirt was the only one guaranteed not to shrink.

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'' has the episode ''The New Gizmo Kids On The Block'', where Fenton's [[RuleOfFunny metallic]] Gizmo suit shrunk in the wash, allowing Scrooge's nephews to wear it.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode [[Recap/TheAmazingWorldofGumballS1E6TheDress "The Dress"]], Gumball [[UnplannedCrossdressing is forced to wear his mom's wedding dress]] because [[{{Manchild}} his father]] shrunk all his clothes in the wash. When he's inevitably spotted by the other kids, they don't recognize him ([[AttractiveBentGender in fact, most are quite smitten with him]])
* In the sketch, ''Honey, I Shrunk the Clothes Trailer'' from the ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' episode, "K-Acme TV", when Hamton and Gogo get jobs at the laundromat, and they accidentally shrink Fifi's dress to the size of a doll's dress.
* ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'' has the short ''Car Washers'', which ends with Mickey telling Pete that his car shrunk in the wash (actually, he, Donald and mostly Goofy had wrecked the car so much they decided to buy a new one as a replacement, but could only afford a miniature model). Pete is incredulous of this, but then he ends up forced through the car wash and becomes tiny, yelling at Mickey, Donald, and Goofy in a high-pitched voice.
* In the episode [[Recap/TheLooneyTunesShowS2E4RebelWithoutAGlove "Rebel Without a Glove"]] of ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow'', Bugs shrinks his gloves in the wash, forcing him to wear leather ones until his replacements arrive in the post; causing him to change personalities.

-->'''Freddy''': YOU FOOL! The label CLEARLY says permanent press!

* In the TexAvery cartoon "Little 'Tinker", a skunk, trying to attract girls, mimics FrankSinatra, buying a "Frankie Suit", a huge pile of clothes he's dwarfed in until he sprinkles himself with a watering can and it shrinks up and contracts, ending with him looking like a walking broomstick.

* ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'' has the short ''Car Washers'', which ends with Mickey telling Pete that his car shrunk in the wash. Pete is incredulous of this, but then he ends up forced through the car wash and becomes tiny, yelling at Mickey, Donald, and Goofy in a high-pitched voice.

* ''Series/SesameStreet'' had an episode in the 1990's where Baby Bear got a new tie from his aunt. After it blow away in the winds and lands in the mud, Baby Bear washes it only for it to shrink down to finger size, leaving him to spend the rest of the episode's plot trying to find a way to fix it.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode [[Recap/TheAmazingWorldofGumballS1E6TheDress "The Dress"]], Gumball is forced to wear his mom's wedding dress because [[{{Manchild}} his father]] shrunk all his clothes in the wash. When he's inevitably spotted by the other kids, they don't recognize him ([[AttractiveBentGender in fact, most are quite smitten with him]])

* ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'' has the episode ''Car Washers'', which ends with Mickey telling Pete that his car shrunk in the wash. Pete is incredulous of this, but then he ends up forced through the car wash and becomes tiny, yelling at Mickey, Donald, and Goofy in a high-pitched voice.

-->'''Freddy''': YOU FOOL! The label CLEARLY says permanent press!

* ''WesternAnimation/MrBean's'' Teddy was shrunk in the wash in ''Tee Off, Mr. Bean''. Of course, he's back to normal again next episode.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode ''The Dress'', Gumball is forced to wear his mom's wedding dress because [[{{Manchild}} his father]] shrunk all his clothes in the wash. When he's inevitably spotted by the other kids, they don't recognize him ([[AttractiveBentGender in fact, most are quite smitten with him]])

* In the episode ''Rebel Without a Glove'' of ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow'', Bugs shrinks his gloves in the wash, forcing him to wear leather ones until his replacements arrive in the post; causing him to change personalities.

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'' has the episode ''The New Gizmo Kids On The Block'', where Fenton's metallic Gizmo suit shrunk in the wash, allowing Scrooge's nephews to wear it.

* In the episode ''Rebel Without a Glove'' of ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', Bugs shrinks his gloves in the wash, forcing him to wear leather ones until his replacements arrive in the post; causing him to change personalities.

Examples:

Clothing in real life, especially untreated wool, has a nasty habit of shrinking if you don't follow those cryptic symbols on the tag; an nobody knows what they mean. At worst this means it'll become a size smaller, probably just annoyingly too snug, forcing you to abandon it.

Clothing in real life, especially untreated wool, has a nasty habit of shrinking if you don't follow those cryptic symbols on the tag; an nobody knows what they mean. At worst this means it'll become a size smaller, probably just annoyingly too snug forcing you to abandon it.

Not in media however where this trope is taken to the extreme. Even the slightest dash of water could reduce an expensive three-piece suit down to the size of atoms. Even things that shouldn't logically shrink aren't safe from incorrect cleaning!

* One episode of ''{{Series/Seinfeld}}'' concerns Jerry trying to get a drycleaner to admit that he had shrunk one of Jerry's shirts in the wash. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI8QWW15MnM As seen here.]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]
* In the ''VideoGame/CostumeQuest'' the yeti monster turns out to be a guy in a suit; the reason why the yeti hasn't been seen is that the suit shrunk in the wash. Fortunately it's shrunk to the correct size of a 4th grader.
* ''VideoGame/DayOfTheTentacle'' has a puzzle where you must put a wooly sweater in a drier for 100 years so it'll become wearable for a bald hamster.

* The Creator/DoubleFine browser game ''[[http://www.doublefine.com/games/host_master_deux Host Master Deux]]'' has Tim shrinking producer Greg's T-shirt down to size so Tim can wear it. If you use too hot a wash the shirt will shrink to a tiny size and then disintegrate.

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

** ''Don Donald'': At the end, Donald falls in a puddle and his huge sombrero shrinks into a tiny beanie.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' short ''Zoot Cat'', Tom's zoot suit shrinks until it pops out. Jerry then jumps into it, and it fits perfectly.
* Subverted in the ''WesternAnimation/JosieAndThePussyCats'' episode ''A Greenthumb Is Not A Goldfinger''. All six protagonists have been captured by Amazon basin natives, who plan to shrink the Pussy Cats' heads in their potion cauldron. To prove that Pussy Cat magic is stronger than the natives' magic, Alexandra dunks her brother's shirt in the potion, which has no effect. Alexander's shirt was the only one guaranteed not to shrink.

* ''WesternAnimation/MrBean's'' Teddy was shrunk in the wash in ''Tee Off, Mr. Bean''. Of course he's back to normal again next episode.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'' has the episode ''The New Gizmo Kids On The Block'', where Fenton's metallic Gizmo suit shrunk in the wash allowing Scrooge's nephews to wear it.

* In the sketch, ''Honey, I Shrunk The Clothes Trailer'' from the ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' episode, "K-Acme TV", when Hamton and Gogo get a job at the laundromat, they accidentally shrink Fifi's dress to the size of a doll's dress.
* ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'' has the episode ''Car Washers'' which ends with Mickey telling Pete that his car shrunk in the wash. Pete is incredulous of this, but then he ends up forced through the car wash and becomes tiny, yelling at Mickey, Donald, and Goofy in a high-pitched voice.
* In the episode ''Rebel Without A Glove'' of ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' Bugs shrinks his gloves in the wash forcing him to wear leather ones until his replacements arrive in the post; causing him to change personalities.
[[/folder]]