There are two reasons you might want to wash your waterproof coat or trousers. First is that they are dirty, and second they have lost waterproofness.

We are going to go through how to wash your waterproofs without damaging the material and how to reproof them.

Washing your waterproofs

First off we need to clean your garments before we can reproof them.

Always check the manufactures guidelines for washing equipment.

The ideal solution is to wash your coats with a specialised solution like Nikwax Tech wash, there are other products that do the same one but this is considered the best.

Simply wash your garments with this and it will clean your clothes without damaging it. Only ever put 1 or 2 garments into a wash at a time for best results.

You should never use a biological washing detergent with waterproofs as it will damage the membrane. For this reason, some people like to run their washing machine with nothing in it to get rid of any soap residue from previous washes before washing waterproofs.

A cheap way: Tech wash can be expensive so to make it cheaper you can either just wash it with water and no detergent. Thats not going to give you the best results but it will work.

A second option is to use non-biological washing detergent. As long as it is in no way biological then it is safe to use it on your waterproofs, it just won’t work as well as specialised solutions.

Once they are all clean you can then decide if you need to re-proof your waterproofs or not.

Re-waterproof your coats and salopettes

Now that the waterproofs are washed, we can now re-waterproof them.

This is made simple once again with Nikwax TX Direct wash.

This stuff is so simple to use, simply put it in the washing machine with 1 or 2 garments, set it to wash, let it dry and your done. It’s easily the best stuff to use and so easy, no wonder everyone uses it.

The cheap way: Heat from either the lowest setting on an iron or a tumble dryer can re-activate the DWR treatment of the waterproof. This can help maintain the waterproofness of your garment. Be carefull not to damage your garment by getting it too hot or you could damage it.

If you have anything to add or any questions, please add them in the comments