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Care

A technical shell does not wear out. It gets dirty, loses its water repellency, and gets replaced by someone who thinks it has stopped working. Almost always it has not.

Each product page carries the exact care instructions for that piece. What follows applies across the range.

Three things that matter

  • Wash it more, not less

    Dirt, sweat and body oils are what kill breathability and water repellency. A shell that is washed after every ten days of use performs better and lasts longer than one that is never washed.

  • Never use fabric softener

    Softener coats the fibres and destroys both wicking in a baselayer and the DWR on a shell. Use a technical wash, or a plain liquid detergent with no additives. No bleach.

  • Heat reactivates DWR

    When water stops beading, a tumble dry on low for twenty minutes usually brings the repellency back. If it does not, the finish needs reproofing rather than replacing.

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Care by layer

Baselayers — BROOD™

Machine wash warm, maximum 40 °C, gentle cycle, with like colours. No fabric softener. Tumble dry low. Do not iron. Do not dry clean.

Wash after every two or three days of use. Synthetic knits hold odour when the residue from sweat is left in the fibre, and softener makes it permanently worse.

Insulation — COVERT™, HACKLE™, ROOST™, PERCH™, LEDGE™

Close all zips and fasten the storm flaps before washing. Machine wash warm on a gentle cycle with a technical wash. No softener, no bleach.

Tumble dry low until fully dry — this is the step that restores loft in synthetic insulation. Do not hang a wet insulated piece to dry; the fill will settle and stay flat.

Shells — TALON™, PREEN™, SHEEN™, MURMUR™

Close every zip, including pit zips, and fasten the hem and cuff adjusters so they cannot abrade the face fabric. Machine wash warm on a gentle cycle with a technical wash designed for waterproof-breathable fabrics.

Run a second rinse cycle to clear all detergent residue, then tumble dry low for twenty minutes to reactivate the DWR. If water still soaks into the face fabric after that, apply a wash-in or spray-on reproofer.

Do not dry clean and do not iron. Taped seams and laminated membranes do not survive either.

Pants — TALON™, MURMUR™

Same as shells. Pay attention to the cuff and the scuff guard, which pick up most of the abrasion from ski boots and edges. Clean grit out of the hem before washing, or it will sit there and grind at the fabric all cycle.

Eyewear

Rinse with clean water before wiping. Dry grit dragged across a lens by a cloth is what causes almost all scratching. Dry with the microfibre pouch supplied. Never use solvents, glass cleaner, or the corner of a shirt.

Storing kit over summer

Wash everything before it goes away. Salt, sunscreen and sweat left on a garment for six months will degrade the coating and the elastic.

Store insulated pieces hanging or loose in a dry place, never compressed in a stuff sack. Compression over months is what permanently flattens synthetic fill.

Wash it more, not less

The single most useful thing you can know about a shell. The full explanation is in the journal.

Read the guide