How do you maintain and wash your technical mountain wear?

simply in order to preserve their technical performance and allow you to enjoy them for as long as possible. Depending on the frequency and intensity of your outdoor activity, clothes will gradually become dirty and lose their technical capacities due to sweat, dust and rubbing. But all is not lost! By regularly maintaining your technical wear and adopting the right habits, you can prolong their lifespan. 

It all depends on how often you go out, how warm it is and how much direct contact it has with your skin.

Base layers need to be washed more frequently to prevent accumulation of salt and dirt. If your base layer is made of merino wool, you can put off washing it, but it you have a synthetic base layer, we recommend washing it after each climb, especially if you have sweated a lot.

Wash second layers (fleeces, sweatshirts, down jackets) and trousers after several outings or as and when you need to.

Jackets (softshell, waterproof jackets) can be cleaned once or twice a year maximum. Remember that a waterproof jacket should be washed as infrequently as possible.
You can skip the chore of washing and just use stain remover on the dirty areas only.

Tip: if your synthetic clothing has yellow stains on the armpits: these are stains left behind from a chemical reaction between your deodorant and sweat. During the natural sweating process, mineral salts in your sweat come into contact with the aluminium salts present in most deodorants, leaving yellow stains on clothes. To reduce the staining, you can use white vinegar or lemon before washing.

1. Hand or machine wash, or double rinse
2. Use a special detergent
3. Avoid softeners and stain removers
4. Spin dry on a delicate setting
5. Dry naturally
6. Re-waterproof regularly

Other questions

The most important thing is to always follow the instructions written on the label of your technical clothing.

Hand wash
If you wash your clothes by hand, submerge them in lukewarm soapy water. We don’t recommend high heat, opt for a moderate temperature instead. Rub the stains and dirty areas very gently. Rinse thoroughly and feel free to keep rinsing until the water is clear.

Machine wash
You can wash your technical wear in a washing machine. Here are the tips to follow:

. Empty the pockets, close the front zip and pockets. 
. Loosen the elastics and close the Velcro in as loose a position as possible.
. Turn the item of clothing inside out to prevent the outer membranes from bobbling and rubbing, as well as to ensure good water evaporation during the drying cycle. 
. Separate your technical clothes from your day-to-day wear, and separate colours to avoid accidents. 
. Load the washing machine two-thirds full maximum. 
. Put in tennis balls if your clothes contain down
. Add the required dose of your special detergent
. Start a delicate cold cycle or at 30° maximum.

Rinse

The golden rule is to rinse twice! It is important to properly remove all traces of detergent to ensure the fibres continue to perform well and stay breathable. 

Avoid using washing powder, which is difficult to remove during the rinse and risks clogging up your clothes’ stitching. The detergents you choose are important when it comes to preserving the technical performance of the fibres.

Why can’t I use my normal detergent?

Because traditional detergents contain ingredients like fragrances, enzymes, optical brighteners and cleaning agents that are too aggressive for technical clothing. They may affect the waterproof and breathable properties. Opt for a special detergent that will eliminate microparticles of dust and mud, which allows a more effective application of your chosen water repellency restoring treatment.

Do not use softeners or conditioners on your technical clothes.
Fabric softeners are sent into the drum when you rinse; they are a sort of after-shampoo for your textiles that will remain in the fibre to soften it. But in the case of technical clothes, you want to prevent residues from remaining in the stitching, because they will obstruct it, causing a reduction in performance in terms of breathability and water repellency. Consider properly cleaning out your detergent drawer to prevent fabric softener residues from previous cycles ending up in the drum.

Bleach is another product in the list of ones to avoid. This is obvious but not self-explanatory!
We tend to use bleach to eliminate odours or dull smells. But sports clothes are often made of synthetic materials or merino wool. These fibres are delicate and bleach is far too aggressive for them.

Opt for white vinegar to eliminate ingrained sweat odours. Pour vinegar onto the sweated areas, let it act for a few minutes then wash the item of clothing. 

To remove a mud or grass stain, use white vinegar or lemon juice (or 70% alcohol for a stubborn grass stain). Same procedure.

To remove grease stains, you can use ox gall soap, a mild, super stain-removing soap that is ideal for delicate textiles and almost completely biodegradable (depending on the other ingredients in the soap). Start by moistening the stained area with the following mixture: one teaspoon of percarbonate of soda to 1/2 L of hot water. Then rub the soap on the stain and let it act for a few minutes. Rinse or place in the washing machine.

Efficient and better for the environment!

Spin drying is an opportunity to take care of your waterproof membrane (Gore-tex type), or to avoid damaging it. 
Set the spin cycle to a gentle programme. The important thing is to avoid creasing and wrinkling. 
Think of the waterproof membrane as a sheet of paper that becomes brittle with every crease or heavy crumpling. If you repeat a fold over the same area, the membrane will eventually become leaky. 
There are two ways to avoid this, gentle spin or no spin! If you decide not to wring out your waterproof garment, you can roll it in a microfibre towel to speed up the drying process.

For your other technical clothing (without membrane), you can also opt for a gentle spin, in which case there is no risk of damaging the item. 

Air drying is still the most advisable way to dry your technical clothing. You can still opt for the tumble dryer if your garment allows, but it is important to keep the temperature moderate.

If you decide to air dry, lay your clothes flat to prevent them losing their shape (particularly merino wool). Set up the dryer away from sources of intense heat like the fire from your fireplace or a radiator.
You may think it the best idea ever to speed up the drying process, but the heat risks damaging the structures, glues and coatings of your clothes.

If you choose the tumble dryer, select a delicate programme and a moderate temperature, and go ahead and repeat the process until the garment is completely dry.

For waterproof clothing:
When it comes to waterproof clothing, the drying and re-waterproofing stages are two related steps. The water repellency or DWR (Durable Water Repellent) treatment is reactivated as the temperature rises. Either your garment just needs to reactivate its basic water repellency, or you can re-soak the membrane with the water repellency reactivator liquid that you put in the fabric softener when you wash it. The temperature should be kept moderate so as not to damage the structures and the membrane.

Your best bet is to opt for a few extra minutes than a few extra degrees! But the most effective way to reactivate water repellency is to tumble dry.
You can also use a water repellent spray to reactivate water repellency. Spray the product on your garment and even it out with a clean cloth. Leave it to dry for a few hours then off you go!  You can get straight back into your favourite adventures among nature!

Tip: to find out if your garment needs to be re-waterproofed, do the water drop test. If the drop beads, there’s nothing left to do! Your garment is at peak performance! If the water stagnates and penetrates the stitching, the treatment must be reactivated.

At the end of the season or between two outdoor activities, store your clothes in a dry place, away from humidity and UV rays. Put your waterproof and down jackets on hangers to avoid creases and feather compression. You can store your base layers and synthetic or woollen clothing folded. Remember to slip in some conkers, lavender or cedarwood to keep moths away. If you have to store your clothes in a garage, put them in a vacuum bag to avoid humidity. But avoid temperature variations as much as possible, as they affect the components. 

You do not need to wash your ski trousers as often as your hiking trousers. Like waterproof jackets and trousers, technical ski wear is equipped with a membrane and usually has a water-repellent treatment as well. So the rule is the same: wash your garment as infrequently as possible.

However, if you have been rubbing the garment against the snow (we know you’ve ended up hurtling down the slope without a sled, or surfing the snow on your tummy after falling at the end of the blue run😄), it is a good idea to reactivate the water repellency regularly. Remember, it’s up to you alone to assess the condition of your clothing. 

Have you had a good slide down a snowy slope, and once the hairy moment has passed, realised that your technical trousers, jacket or T-shirt now has a gaping hole in it? Don’t panic, we have solutions!

The first is to head over to our workshops and in-store technicians.

You could also go to a sewing professional. Sewers are becoming increasingly knowledgeable when it comes to repairing technical clothing.

And you could always carry out the repair yourself depending on your skills and what needs doing. For a small hole, opt for our repair patches or repair glue. Clean it, glue it and get back to the slopes!
You could also sew up the garment, but remember that if it rains, the holes made by the needles will let in the water. So for a base or second layer garment, you can mend or sew a patch, but for a waterproof garment, opt for sticky patches or a professional repair.