Great questions! They are made of cotton yarn, that washes well. In my personal use, they have never stretched out. Cotton yarn does not have any "give" in it like acrylic yarn does. If you look in the photo where the towel is hanging, you can see that the circle shape does deform a little, but once you remove the towel, it returns. It doesn't not have any "support" in it though to speak of. It does hold its shape though :). I've been using my original one I made for over a year and it's still in great shape, even through many washings. I hope this answers your question and doesn't make it more confusing!