Rain Wear Revival!

August 13, 2014 0 Comments

Outdoor Gear Revival- 

How to Refresh your Favourite Rain Wear

So, you’re sporting your faithful rain jacket, the one that saw you through the British Columbia drizzle, that heavy cloudburst on the prairies and the steady pour that lasted for days in northern Ontario… and you realize that your trusted pal isn’t keeping you dry like it used to.

New jacket time? Maybe. We all like the allure of something new, dirt free and ready to perform just like the manufacturer states. But you might not have to give up on old faithful- why not try to bring it back to life and save your cash for that pony you always wanted?

How’s your DWR? It stands for durable water repellent and is used to make your waterproof breathable fabric hydrophobic- it causes that beading effect that you might remember from your jacket’s early days.When the rain stops “beading” off of your jacket, it’s harder for the waterproof-breathable fabric to do it’s job.The fabric get’s “wetted out” and the sweat from your body has a hard time escaping and water will seep through it’s membrane leaving you NOT DRY.

NIKWAX to the rescue!  Nikwax is the maker of several outdoor gear maintenance and rescue products, including a Tech Wash and T.X. Direct.

First you want to make sure that you wash your jacket with a cleaning agent designed for outdoor gear (tech wash).Ordinary detergents cause the outer fabric to attract water (hydrophilic) which will compromise the fabric’s ability to breathe. In order for your jacket to breathe, the rain needs to bead off it.

Next, you should use a treatment that adds DWR to your fabric, like NIKWAX T.X. Direct.  It comes as a wash in or spray on, but for items that need an all over DWR revival, we recommend the wash in.

Last, let it dry and do a rain dance so that you can go outside and enjoy the fruits of your labour. Be proud and go puddle jump with your new pony, in the rain.

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