Reading how to wash my Klim gear and it talks about reviving the DWR by running an extra dryer cycle and also applying a spray on DWR such as Revivex.
What do you folks do? I bought the light grey to be cooler and more visible but fixing roadside flats on chain drive bikes doesn't get along with it well.
Reading how to wash my Klim gear and it talks about reviving the DWR by running an extra dryer cycle and also applying a spray on DWR such as Revivex.
What do you folks do? I bought the light grey to be cooler and more visible but fixing roadside flats on chain drive bikes doesn't get along with it well.
I have a set of fishing jacket and bibs - I just wash it hot and wash it lots. Wash it on hot and then throw it in the dryer on high and never had an issue.
Nikwax Tech Wash is the market leading cleaner for waterproof clothing and gear that revitalizes water repellency and breathability of waterproof gear.
If it’s relatively new you may not need to use the extra dwr spray afterwards as the dryer cycle spreads out and reactivates the coating. If it’s older then you need to add more hence the spray. Goretex jackets like to be washed and dried regularly. Washing clears the pores of the breathable membrane and drying reactivates the water repellant coating. Just use the tech wash cleaner or similar specifically for Goretex or you’ll strip the DWR layer.
If it’s relatively new you may not need to use the extra dwr spray afterwards as the dryer cycle spreads out and reactivates the coating. If it’s older then you need to add more hence the spray. Goretex jackets like to be washed and dried regularly. Washing clears the pores of the breathable membrane and drying reactivates the water repellant coating. Just use the tech wash cleaner or similar specifically for Goretex or you’ll strip the DWR layer.
Newer jackets are more likely to need DWR treating. Around 2015 DWR chemistry changed due to environmental restrictions on PFCs, since then the durability of the DWR layers is about half and the newer stuff doesn’t rejuvenate meaningfully with heat. It will survive 3-4 launderings.
It changed again in 2023, to a PFAS free chemistry, basically the same wax-silicone formula as Niwax. That lasts 2, maybe 3 launderings and does not rejuvenate with heat.
Surface treatments work better than wash in types, mainly because you want to be repellent on the outside, and don’t want it in the inside.
As for breathability, that’s basically marketing poof-dust. Goretex fabric is not very breathable when used to make a motorcycle jacket. Virtually all the sweat generated inside a jacket evacuates thru venting - so the jacket design is way more important than the brand name of the outer shell fabric.
Newer jackets are more likely to need DWR treating. Around 2015 DWR chemistry changed due to environmental restrictions on PFCs, since then the durability of the DWR layers is about half and the newer stuff doesn’t rejuvenate meaningfully with heat. It will survive 3-4 launderings.
It changed again in 2023, to a PFAS free chemistry, basically the same wax-silicone formula as Niwax. That lasts 2, maybe 3 launderings and does not rejuvenate with heat.
Surface treatments work better than wash in types, mainly because you want to be repellent on the outside, and don’t want it in the inside.
As for breathability, that’s basically marketing poof-dust. Goretex fabric is not very breathable when used to make a motorcycle jacket. Virtually all the sweat generated inside a jacket evacuates thru venting - so the jacket design is way more important than the brand name of the outer shell fabric.
Gore-Tex used to have a very well respected Teflon type material that was the lightest most packable waterproof breathable layer for a rain jacket. I tried to buy an ultralight jacket made from it a year or so ago and found it had been discontinued in favour of the newer material which was Pertex or something similar to Tyvec which wasn’t as good a performer.
Shame that.
I had an older MEC goretex jacket that was waterproof for 15 years. My Klim stuff hasn’t leaked in the 10 years I’ve had it. I have a fancy Arc’teryx goretex jacket now that is bombproof and I hope lasts me another 15 years. I’m in the market to replace my old Klim suit so that better last me another 10 years.
I’m a big fan of buy once, cry once but only if it lasts a long time.
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