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Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,781
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

I'm beside myself with zippers, I have several SG zip up hoodie jackets (were not cheap) and after one washing, hand or machine, the zipper ripples.

 

Drives me crazy, I zip it to wash, throw it in the dryer for maybe 2 minutes, hang it to fully dry and the zipper is still rippled.  It's actually rippled after the fabric gets wet. 

 

Does this have to do with the factory that manufactures this product?  Does it have to do with possibly not prewashed material?  The zipper itself.

Can't decide what's doing this. 

 

I tug, pull and everything else to these hoodie jackets (yes, very comical) and i'm still getting the ripple effect, seriously that doesn't look nice after washing.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 44,347
Registered: ‎01-08-2011

Sounds like an inexpensive zipper or it may not have been sewn in properly.

 

I know you don't want to, but can lightly steaming it with a press cloth relax it?  Warm steam does relax fibers.  We did that in clothing construction.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,812
Registered: ‎06-06-2010

Drives me nuts when zippers ripple, collars don't lie flat etc.  I haven't used an iron since the 1990's !!  I grab things out of the dryer and I expect them to behave. I got a pack of Joy Mangano's huggable hanger clips.  You can pin down a lapel or clip the back of a collar to straighten it or weight down a zipper hanging the clip from the bottom of the zipper etc.  Plastic won't leave a mark either.  This is the newest version; my old ones were clunkier. 

From HSN:  

 

 

Huggable Hangers® Set of 20pk Pant and/or Skirt Clips

Honored Contributor
Posts: 23,919
Registered: ‎03-13-2010

It's not the zipper itself.    The THREAD in the zipper seam has shrunk.

♥Surface of the Sun♥
Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,901
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

The rippling zipper could be caused by one or more of these things. The fabric wasn't pre-shrunk before the garment was made. The zipper wasn't pre-shrunk before the zipper was inserted into the garment. The thread sewing the zipper into the garment has shrunk.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 78,359
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

I have no reason to disbelieve the OP, but I wonder why more people haven't complained about this?  If I spent $50+ for an SG top or jacket and the zipper went wonky,  I'd be screaming bloody murder.  I'd call CS and get something done about it.  Too bad you can't talk to the buyer, but I'd surely talking to somebody.

New Mexico☀️Land Of Enchantment
Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,206
Registered: ‎08-08-2011

@Mistreatedbycs  I have had the same rippling effect happen to a couple D&Co French terry-zip up jackets. I machine washed both of those jackets in cold water but hung to dry.  I feel like it is the zipper material that shrunk. 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 33,580
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

I was looking at a D&B handbag a few weeks ago in Macy's and the zipper was all rippled and crooked looking.  I couldn't believe it.  

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,901
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

@Lipstickdiva wrote:

I was looking at a D&B handbag a few weeks ago in Macy's and the zipper was all rippled and crooked looking.  I couldn't believe it.  


I'm not surprised. I saw a clearance Dooney crossbody bag at Dillards in Las Vegas Fashion Mall in January and the zipper wouldn't glide smoothly.

 

A zipper where one side is sewn in one direction and the other side sewn in the opposite direction can cause rippling. Cheap, scratchy zippers are a pet peeve on handbags.

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Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,045
Registered: ‎03-11-2010

I'm thinking that the twill fabric that the zipper teeth are attached to is shrinking slightly in the wash, causing the rippling, additional shrinkage in the dryer. A tug on each end of the zipper when the garment is wet does not help?  I'd be cautious with the iron. Zipper teeth could melt.