How to wash your down jacket | e-outdoor.co.uk

Hello I'm Kathryn from e-outdoor.

Co.

Uk, todaywe're going to be taking a look at the best way to wash a down jacket When people do attempt to wash downthe most common mistakes are made in the drying of the jacket rather thanthe washing part.

When down gets wet it forms into clumps and if dried incorrectly willbe ruined, so it's vital that the correct care is given So for today's demonstrationI'm going to be be washing this Men's Nuptse Vestfrom The North Face.

which is, of course, available at e-outdoor.

This has never been washed before, so it's about time we gaveit a good cleaning.

So firstly it's important that the right soapis used, normal soaps and fabric softeners will damage the down's fibres and stop itfunctioning correctly There are specialist washing powdersavailable for down We always recommend this, this is Granny'soriginal Pure Gentle Soap Flakes.

which can be brought at most supermarketsI picked this one from Tesco.

This is a fragrance free soap that doesn't contain anyharsh chemicals.

It is pure soap it wont take take away the feathers natural oilsso it will give it a nice gentle wash.

So I've prep'ed our washing machine by doing a small rinse cycle with nothing in thereand I've also washed out the soap tray, just to make sure that there is no residue from otherlaundry liquids that have been used in the machine before.

And before we put the vestthrough the main wash I'm just going to rinse it in the sink.

This isn't an essential step, butI just want to make sure that any nasty bits of dirt on the outside are washed offbefore we put it in the machine.

The amount of soap flakes you need will varydepending on the size of the jacket you're washing as I'm washing a vest I wont needtoo much so I will put a little less than a hand full straight in the tray.

So now the vest and soap is in the machine we need to make sure we select the right settings.

We don't want to be too rough with the down so we need to select a delicate cycle andreduce the spin to 600 rpm.

A good temperature to go for is around 30 and 40 degrees.

I'm goingto go for 30, good for the environment and we don't want to put the down in too muchheat.

So now that's set up lets start it going and put the kettle on So that's the easy bit done, as I said earlier,drying down is when most people make mistakes.

To maintain the jackets warmth it's vitalto ensure the down dries thoroughly and correctly.

The down has now have formed those clumpswe talked about earlier and unless we fluff these clumps upwhile drying the down will not recover it's loft and insulation properties.

It is possible to dry down without a tumble drier, this is done more easily in the summerwhen you can air it outside.

If you are air-drying your jacket, be prepared fora very long process.

To break up the down clumps you will need to shake itout by hand every five to ten minutes for a good few hours.

I'm going to dry the nuptse vest in the tumbledrier, a much simpler method as it will do the shaking for you.

So now it's in the drierI'm going to add two clean tennis balls.

These are a great aid as they bounce all aroundthe drum and beat the clumps in the down, helping break them up and aid the drying.

But of course if you have drier balls then you can use them, tennis balls are simplya cheaper alternative.

So once the vest and tennis balls are in the machine,select a low heat setting and set it for about 20 minutes.

You don't want to leave it intoo long at one consistent heat, so we're going to keep coming back to the vest to checkon it and repeat this process until it's dry.

So now the 20 minutes is upI'm going to take it out and just give it go over by hand.

It helps to lay it flat,and just feel for any clumps that are still in the down when you find them just fluff them out byhand as we did before Once you have done that to the wholeof the jacket shake and put it back in the dryer with the tennis ballsand repeat the 20 minute low heat cycle So as you can see the Nuptse vest is now completelydry and has recovered its loft really well It took a total of 4 runs through the tumble drier andthe washing and drying took about 3 and a half hours.

So it is a very lengthy process but definitely worthit to have a nice clean jacket or vest by the end of it.

If you don't feel confident enough todo this yourself by all means take your jacket toget professionally cleaned.

Source: Youtube