I totally understand why you are concerned about your shoes shrinking in the dryer. You don’t want to throw your new Yeezy’s in the dryer and find them to come out a size smaller.
The short answer is yes most fabric materials will shrink when heated. Things like cotton and canvas you can for sure expect to shrink in the dryer.
If you are set on throwing a pair in the dryer make sure to use a low heat.
Avoid the dryer
In most cases you will want to avoid the dryer all together. There are methods to using a dryer though, we have covered them here.
Instead, stuff your shoes with some newspaper and leave outside to dry. The newspaper will work to soak up the water inside the shoes. Every so often you can replace the newspaper as it might be wet, this could help speed up the drying process.
Most shoes are fine to leave in the sun but shoes like leather shouldn’t be left in direct sunlight. Just setting your shoes outside in a breeze should be enough to air dry your shoes it will just take a little longer.
You want to avoid drying your shoes inside with no ventilation, this can cause fungus and a horrible smell.
I used the dryer and my shoes shrank now what?
So you were impatient and couldn’t wait so you used the dryer, I like your style. Unfortunately you may be left with some shoes that fit awkwardly small.
We have covered this topic in another post with multiple ways to try stretch your shoes back out check it out “How To Stretch Your Shoes At Home”.
My experience with shoes shrinking in the dryer is that a certain part of the shoes will shrink more than another, causing the shoe to fit very strangely.
For example rather than the whole shoe shrinking, only the tongue will shrink and the shoe wont fit anything like before.
Laces
Another note to point out is to not put your shoe laces in the dryer. If you do need to dry your laces in the dryer you should highly consider using a small dryer bag to throw them in.
Your laces can find there way into small places in your dryer and wrap around things and cause trouble. Also your laces can shrink as well.
Laces should dry fairly quickly when set out in the sun.
Damage
Depending on the type of shoes you are trying to throw in the dryer you may not want them banging around each other anyways.
A good tip to make the experience less harsh is to throw a towel in the dryer with your shoes. The towel will act as a cushion to protect those rad kicks.
In conclusion if you have any worries or concerns what so ever about your shoes shrinking in the dryer, then you should avoid the dryer all together and go with an alternative route to drying your shoes.