Keeping it alive
Printed apparel fails in two places: the print cracks, or the cotton shrinks. Both are heat. Wash cold, dry low or not at all, and a tee outlasts the season you bought it for.
The gear that lasts is the gear you looked after. Same as a fly line.
Turn it inside out before it goes in. The print never touches the drum, and cold water does not open the cotton fibres enough to shrink them. Like colours, normal detergent.
A hot dryer is what cracks a print, and it is what takes an inch off the length. Tumble low, or hang it and forget about it — it will be dry by morning.
If it needs pressing, do it inside out and go around the print. A hot plate directly on the ink will glaze it permanently.
Not even the colour-safe kind. It goes after the ink before it goes after the stain.
A wet fly in a closed foam box rusts the hook and flattens the hackle. Hook them into your hat brim or a drying patch until you get to the truck, then put them away at home.
The First Fish Patch is woven with a merrowed edge. It is meant to be stitched onto a jacket that already has some miles on it, and it will outlast the jacket.
A damp cloth and warm water. Most lines that people replace were dirty, not worn out — grime is what makes a line sink and shoot badly.
Something failed early? That's on us, not on you.