Question:
I own a waterproof shell jacket from The North Face - I can't remember it's name -
it's been brilliant for about a year but it started to get saturated when it rained. I proofed it for the first time with a Storm proofer - Protector Plus I believe - but it still 'wets out' and doesn't give me the beaded look anymore! Can you help?! Answer:
Hi there,
For one week only, no silly intro. As you've discovered, with use
the factory applied DWR - Durable Water Repellant - treatment wears
off and allows water to saturate the outer layer of the jacket. When
this happens, your jacket will stop breathing effectively and
probably leave you damp from condensation forming inside the
jacket.
 As
you've noticed, the obvious sign of this is that water no longer
beads and runs off the surface of the fabric. You're on the right
path using a reproofer, but for the process to be effective, you do
need to be quite thorough.
First, get hold of some specialist cleaner - Grangers, Nikwax and
others all make them - or some pure soap flakes. Next, clean out the
detergent drawer on your washing machine then run a boil wash cycle
through it to remove traces of old detergent.
This is because normal washing powders and liquids contain
additves which can compromise DWR treatments.
Next, wash the garment in the technical cleaner following the
instructions on the care label. This should give you a clean jacket
ready for reproofing.
If your jacket is a three-ply one, in other words made of just one
thickness of fabric then you should use a wash-in treatment. If it's
two-ply and has a mesh liner as well as an outer layer then use a
spray-on reproofer. In both cases follow the instructions on the
bottle.
Depending on which treatment you use, you may now have to heat the
jacket using either a tumble drier or a cool iron - see care
instructions - to activate the treatment. This is the case with
Grangers, which is very close to the original DWR. If you use Nikwax,
then there's no need to heat treat the garment.
If the proofer you use needs heat to activate it and you don't
heat it, the new DWR will be next to useless. If your Storm reproofer instructions say you need to apply heat to activate it and you haven't then this is your problem and some low temperature tumble drying or careful ironing may solve your problem quickly and easily.
There is one final option - Grangers makes an all in one washer
and reproofer, that you can use for three-ply jackets, though again
it means heat treating it after application.
Once your jacket is beading happily again, wash it when dirty
using a technical cleaner or pure soap flakes to keep performance
working. If you have a heat-activated DWR, once it starts wearing
off, a quick wash and tumble dry may be enough to get it working
again. If not then you'll need to reproof.
The picture you linked to, by the way, is a North Face women's
Mountain Lite Parka from 2004 :-)
Happy washing
Yours repellantly
Richard G |
