We dropped by to see the guys at outdoor gear care experts Grangers to clear up some of the confusion over looking after your expensive kit. To wash, or not to wash... The kit that is.
Funny stuff outdoor gear. If you're anything like us, your
waterproof breathable shell clothing and kit probably cost more than
the rest of your wardrobe put together, but the sad reality is that a
lot of us simply don't know how to clean and maintain our outdoor
gear.
Half of us simply chuck it in the machine with everything else,
cross our fingers and hope for the best while the other half are so
frightened of ruining it that we don't wash it at all. Neither
option, as it happens, is a particularly good idea.
But what should you be doing? We're planning an online care guide
which'll be appearing in the near future, but as a starter we dropped
in to see the high priests of gear laundry at Grangers to find out
what makes them tick and get to the bottom of a few soapy myths and
legends.
The Company Based over in Alfreton, Derbyshire on the fringes
of the Peak District, Grangers are one of the UK's major producers of
outdoor clothing and footwear care products. What's more they
manufacture and package their products on site in the UK.
The
mixing room is a seething, bubbling pile of cauldrons pumping out
everything from Cherry Blossom shoe polish - 'you have to get the
temperature spot on or it simply sets solid in the pipes' - to the
latest high tech re-proofing treatments approved by Gore-Tex.
Oh yeah, Grangers manufactures not only its own range of care
products and cleaners, but also turns out a swathe of 'own brand'
product for the likes of Meindl, Brasher and well, you name it. The
facility is piled high with alternative labels. To give you and idea
of the sort of scale they operate on, the company produces half a ton
of Cherry Blossom shoe polish (which it also owns) every day.
More relevant to the average outdoor user, Grangers products are
tested and recommended for use with Gore-Tex, the only care product
in the UK that is.
On-Site Lab It's clear Grangers takes its development and
testing seriously. There's a small on-site laboratory where the
company boffins develop and assess new products as well as carrying
out quality control tests on every batch of cleaner and proofer made
in the factory next door.
It's not a grand facility, and disarmingly, standing in the corner
are two bog standard domestic washer driers rather than the
industrial appliances you might explain. 'We use them'' explains
BMX-ing technical man Richard Randall, ' because that's what the
customer has, so that's the environment it has to work in.
And if you've ever wondered how water repellancy's tested, the ISO
test machine is there in the corner. It's a simple device, treated
fabric's stretched over an opening and water sprays onto it at a
pre-determined rate at 45 degrees. The level of saturation and
beading's compared to a chart and the water-repellancy of the
fabric's rated accordingly. Simple, so now you know.
There's are other tests too and an oven running at 37 degrees C
which accelerates reactions and allows the techies to see whether
their treatments will still be doing the job after three years
sitting on a shelf.
The Water Repellancy Thing One of the most confusing aspects
of shell clothing is 're-proofing'. New jackets are made from a
fabric which has had a DWR (Durable Water Repellancy) treatment
applied as part of the manufacturing process. It's this that makes
rain bead and run off on contact with the surface of the
fabric.
The original treatment is a fluorochemical and Grangers say that
their's is the only aftermarket pure fluoro DWR treatment on the
market and it took them three years to develop. With use the original
treatment will wear off and needs to be restored, here's a few points
worth noting:
? commercial detergents contain chemicals - caustics,
enzymes, wetting and brightening agents - that strip the DWR from the
fabric and leave a residue behind that take several washes to shift,
though it's impossible to remove completely. It would take 15 rinses
in straight water to shift most of it, though a technical, soap-based
cleaner will accelerate the process.
? dirt compromises DWR as well by attracting water so washing
in the right cleaner is good.
? for cleaning you need either pure soap flakes or a
technical soap-based cleaner like Grangers Extreme Cleaner or Extreme
Cleaner Plus which will leave the DWR intact.
? using pure soap, the DWR treatment should last around ten
washes or so and you shouldn't have to apply heat to keep it working.
The
Heat Thing If you reapply the DWR, you'll need to expose the
fabric to heat to activate the fluorochemicals. You can either tumble
dry the garment at a low temperature for around an hour or use an
iron carefully, again at a low temperature.
You can use either spray or wash-in treatments, but pay special
attention to cuffs, collars, seams, shoulders and elbows which are
major wear areas.
The Machine Thing If you're using a washing machine, you need
to remove all detergent residue first. Take out the detergent
dispenser
tray and clean off caked on detergent deposits. Look under the tray
as well. Then run two rinse cycles through the machine before washing
with the technical cleaner or applying a wash-in DWR.
Grangers say that wash balls are a waste of time, it's better to
simpy add the cleaner to the detergent tray where it will mix
thoroughly with incoming water. So now you know.
The Soft Shell Thing Like waterproofs, most soft shells come
with a DWR finish and should be washed in pure soap or a technical
cleaner like Extreme Cleaner or equivalent. You should be able to
re-apply DWR treatment as with 'hard shells' but again, check the
manufacturer's care instructions before incinerating the garment. In
other words, we'd suggest you treat them like waterproofs.
The Manufacturers' Instructions Remember what we said about
people being unsure what they can and can't do to their waterproofs?
Well, that's partly because the manufacturers are still catching up
with care details and a lot of instructions are quite
basic.
Sorry about the picture, we ran out and those are instructions, sort
of...
Things are changing though, Arc'teryx are about to run a promotion
where they give away a sample pack of Grangers products with their
new jackets from this summer. The idea is to start educating buyers
as to the best way to maintain their kit. That's us of course.
Ironically it's in the maker's interests to do this because the
lack of DWR means that the outer face of the fabric gets saturated,
the garment stops breathing effectively, condensation forms inside
and the user assumes the material is at fault and returns the jacket.
Just restoring the DWR or not destroying it in the first place would
stop this happening.
Washing It We'll say it again, don't be afraid to wash your
kit. Dirt attracts water and stops the DWR working as well and as
long as you use the right cleaner, you'll only improve things. That
means either a technical cleaner intended for use on outdoor
clothing, which will be based on pure soap, or just pure soap
flakes.
The latter are much cheaper, but similarly effective, although not
really designed for use in washing machines. We've had some success
by making a solution of soap flakes in hot water then using ike a
liquid, but beware rampant sud syndrome where soapy bubbles escape
from the tub and run riot in your kitchen...
The End Of course there's loads more to it, but we were very
impressed with the sheer professionalism of the guys at Grangers, the
obvious depth of their knowledge and their commitment to making
products that work. Particular thanks to Richard and Karolina for
fielding our particularly stupid questions and showing us round.
