Washing trail running clothes, especially technical textiles such as membranes or water-repellent fabrics, is a subject of much debate in the outdoor sports community. Between those who machine-wash their clothes after every outing and runners who prefer merino wool garments because they don't retain odors from one day to the next, it's easy to get lost.
Given this, we decided to share best practices for washing your Wise clothes. At least, these are the practices we follow.
All Wise products (Dawa Sherpa Series, Compact Series, and Core Series) should be washed using this method. All our products with water-repellent treatment are also concerned: Blackshell, Nanoshell 160g, Legging Sherpa, Nanopant, Nanoshell 360g.
Why wash your clothes?
This question may seem trivial at first glance, but for technical clothing, washing is truly crucial for durability. Dust, dirt, and salt from perspiration are all elements that attack your clothes.
Maintaining them significantly extends their lifespan. The same goes for shoes: with dirt, the mesh of the upper will tend to wear out more quickly due to abrasion. Therefore, it is recommended to wash shoes as often as possible.
It is equally important to wash products containing a waterproof-breathable membrane like the Blackshell or a water-repellent treatment like the Nanoshell. A common misconception is that machine washing will reduce waterproofing and degrade the water-repellent treatment.
But on the contrary, it is important to wash them to maintain all their technical properties. So yes, we wash a jacket with a membrane or water-repellent treatment just like any other ;)
When to machine wash your clothes?
Today, we're going to look at how to machine wash Wise clothes.
To best maintain the products, we recommend alternating between rinsing/hand washing and machine washing. Indeed, it is not necessary to machine wash your clothes after every outing. After a jog, an easy endurance session without too much sweating, a simple rinse/wash in cold or lukewarm water (30°) will be enough to remove all odors. And since smelling good is essential, you can add a small dab of liquid detergent.
Unlike more aggressive machine washing, hand rinsing will also limit the number of polymer micro-particles that end up in the water and then in our oceans!
We still recommend machine washing your clothes every 3-4 uses or after a big outing under the scorching sun!
In practice, how do you machine wash your clothes?
Here are the different steps to follow for machine washing Wise products.
The first 4 steps are common to all products.
The 5th step only concerns products with a water-repellent treatment (Nanoshell 160g, Blackshell, Legging Sherpa, Nanopant, Nanoshell 360g).
First, it's important to prepare your clothes for washing. Here are the steps to follow:
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Empty all pockets, not forgetting the wrappers used during your last ultra ;)
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Close all zippers. This is very important so that a loose zip doesn't damage other clothes.
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Untie all knots (e.g., the waist drawstring knot on the Sherpa Race Shorts)
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Loosen all elastic drawstrings (e.g., on the hem of the Blackshell)
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Place clothes in a Guppy Friend bag. A pillowcase also works very well.
To wash technical products, it is essential to use liquid detergent. Be careful not to use powder detergent. Powder detergent can block the pores of the Blackshell membrane, for example. The jacket would then lose all its breathable properties.
Also be careful not to add perfume, bleaching agents, fabric softener, or dyes. Only use liquid detergent.
Once in the Guppy Friend bag, WISE clothes should be washed at 30°C on a one-hour or synthetic cycle. Set the spin speed to a maximum of 800 revolutions/minute.
Air dry clothes on a drying rack. Do not tumble dry or iron clothes.
After about ten uses in the rain, the water-repellent treatment will tend to fade, so water droplets will no longer bead on the fabric surface but will directly soak into it. In reality, the water-repellent treatment doesn't truly disappear; it just gets clogged.
With a simple tumble dryer, it is very easy to revive the water-repellent treatment of your clothes. Once washed and dry, putting the clothes in the tumble dryer for 10-15 minutes on a synthetic or wool program will be enough to restore the treatment.
Here is the method we use to wash our clothes: simple and effective.
Of course, this method was recommended to us by our various partners (PAYEN / PETRATEX) and we have also tested it on our prototypes.
If you're hesitant to take action or have other questions, don't hesitate to write to our customer service; we'll be happy to answer you.
To see all our tips in video, click here! :)