Champion’s reverse weave was invented to stop shrinkage.
Sweatshirts in the 1930s were knit vertically and shrank badly in the constant washing athletic teams gave them. A Champion salesman, Samuel Friedland, turned the fabric 90 degrees so the cotton ran horizontally, and the garment held its length. His 1938 patent protected the method, and the side panels a 1952 patent added became an industry standard.
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