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.

If you'd like to add your own experiences of this product check out our user review system and post your opinions to the world. If you have questions you can mail us direct, ask Richard Gear or try a posting to our gear forum.