Seeing a soaking wet waterproof jacket makes my toes curl a little. It reminds me of hypothermic Duke of Edinburgh award scheme expeditions when I was a schoolboy; when no one in our group knew what a good rain jacket was let alone knew how to look after one.
The fact of the matter is that wet weather garments need to be maintained. You can’t just buy a rain jacket and expect it to perform for you non-stop without any proper care and maintenance. I’ve been professionally testing outdoor gear for over a decade now and I’ve also undertaken numerous multi-week expeditions in the mountains. Here’s what I’ve come to realise when it comes to cleaning and re-proofing waterproof clothing.
Why it’s Important to Wash Waterproof Jackets Properly
Waterproof trousers and rain jackets need to be kept clean for a number of reasons. First of all, like your underwear or hiking socks, bacteria is going to build up in them, they’re going to start to smell and they’re going to start to fall apart if they’re not properly maintained.
But then there’s the performance side of things. A clean jacket is one that has the best chance of performing as you need it to. You see, most waterproof clothing these days, including Gore-tex jackets, will utilise a waterproof membrane that’s sandwiched between layers of fabric and these layers are designed to protect the membrane and to help it function as it should, giving you waterproof and breathable protection.
When you buy a new jacket, these fabrics will come with a durable water repellent treatment (DWR) that adds rain and dirt resistance in order to prevent the jacket from losing its breathability due to saturation. You know when water falls off a waterproof jacket in neat little raindrop-like beads? That’s the DWR doing its job.
The problem is that DWRs don’t last forever and in fact they can easily be washed out of a jacket over time. There’s also the more recent issue that DWRs now tend to have much eco-friendlier formulas that break down faster. In other words, they don’t last as long.
And that’s where home gear care solutions come in. With a washing machine and the right wet weather gear cleaning and reproofing products, like those offered by Nikwax, it’s easy to look after your gear after you’ve purchased it to ensure you get a good lifespan out of it.
Can You Wash a Waterproof Jacket in a Washing Machine?
Waterproof clothing can be washed in a washing machine but there are some important things to bear in mind.
- Avoid using a normal laundry detergent. This can actually clog up the pores over the waterproof membrane and might even wash out any existing DWRs within the fabrics.
- Make sure you use the right temperature and speed settings for your gear. The care label should give you the info you need here. Slow and low are the words to remember there.
- Only wash your gear with one other item max – ideally another wet weather garment.
- Make sure to do up all the zips and un-cinch any tabs so the solutions can have maximum effect.
How Do You Re-proof a Waterproof Jacket?
If you feel that your wet weather gear has lost all of its waterproof performance, the first thing you should try is simply cleaning it. It’s then worth reproofing it as there’s a strong chance that your garment simply needs a new water repellent layer and is feeling wet inside it because the outer fabric is getting saturated too easily and is, in turn, hindering the breathability.
So how do you re-proof? Fortunately, this is something that can be done at home using products from the likes of Nikwax. The video below will explain exactly what to do here.
How Often Should I Wash and Reproof my Waterproof Jacket?
This video I put together explains all the steps you need to follow to clean your jacket and to reproof it. I also go a bit more into the reasons why it’s important to maintain your jacket (now more than ever) and how often you should wash and re-proof.
