Re shrinkage in the tub: I remember my mother (a hipster in her day) telling me that people she knew used to sit in the bath with their new jeans to shrink them in the early 50s or even earlier - got the impression that her generation learned about the finer points of denim from GIs posted over here during the war (that bit is speculation). I'm not sure that there isn't a reference to it in 'Absolute Beginners' by Colin MacInnes, which came out in 1959. My copy's in storage otherwise I would check.