Grangers 2 in 1 Tested

Grangers 2 In 1 is a one step cleaning and proofing treatment
that’s also claimed to minimise odour. It’s primarily used to restore
the factory water repellant treatment – DWR – mainly on waterproof
and softshell clothing.

The DWR prevents the outside of the garment from getting saturated
with water and reducing breathability. When that happens,
condensation can make you wet inside your clothing even though it’s
still waterproof.

The big departure with 2 in 1 is that you no longer need to use
first a cleaner and then a wash-in proofer. One bottle does both,
saving on time and wash cycles.

Grangers says that its DWR treatments are the closes you can get
to the fluorochemicals used by fabric and clothing manufacturers. The
cleaning element is provided by pure soap based detergent, the
proofer is a polymer, which needs heat to activate it. How it works
precisely as an all in one treatment, we don’t know. It’s also
claimed to eliminate odour, presumably using the same technology as
Grangers other odour eliminator products to kill microbes.

The 2 in 1 is suitable for three-ply shell clothing that can be
tumble-dried, says Grangers. For two-ply clothing, with a drop liner,
you’ll need to use both a technical washing product and a spray-on
proofer.

To get an idea of how the 2 in 1 works, we took a very tired
Montane Superfly with no discernible beading effect and a TNF Prolix
Delta softshell that also soaked up water like a sponge.

First we cleaned out the detergent tray and ran a hot wash cycle
through the washing machine to eliminate traces of conventional
washing powder which could compromise the performance of the proofer,
then we ran a normal wash cycle with three capfulls of the
solution.

Once the wash cycle had finished, we removed the jackets from the
machine and allowed them to try, reassuringly there was no nasty
chemical smell from the treatment.

Grangers say you should use a tumble drier at a low setting for an
hour, but we dislike tumblers because they abrade fabrics – remember
that fluff? – and if the thermostat is faulty, can damage garments
and trim through overheating.

Superfly above – beading nicely

Instead we ironed both jackets very thoroughly and slowly
following the care label instructions. If you do this, don’t iron
reflective trim and flashes as it’ll stop it working. Before ironing
and after washing the garments still didn’t bead, but heating the
fluoropolymer allows it to coat the fibres of the garment stopping it
from absorbing water.

After heat -treating the performance of both garments was
transformed, in fact water ran off the surface as if they were new
and straight out of the shop with instant beading. We were really
impressed, especially as the eVENT Superfly has had a hard life and
was barely beading before treating.

TNF softshell, also working well so far.

We can’t tell you much about the durability of the DWR yet or the
odour reduction, but we’ll thrash the garments for a while and report
back in a few weeks time. So far though, so good.

So far. so good. The 2 in 1 is really straightforward to use,
saves the energy of a wash cycle and gives brilliant initial results
after the application of heat. It’s also slightly cheaper than using separate cleaner and proofer. So far so good, we’ll report back on
the durability of the treatment in a few weeks time and add some
marks for performance and value.