A Guide to Caring for GORE-TEX Garments

Here are some handy hints to help you maintain all your GORE-TEX garments, ensuring their performance and extending their life.

What is GORE-TEX?

Most people know GORE-TEX® improves protection against water. It’s actually a membrane that’s laminated between high-performance lining and outer textiles.

How to wash GORE-TEX garments

Before you wash your item make sure the zips and pockets are closed, and fasten all flaps and straps.

• Machine wash on a warm cycle (up to 40°C)
• Only use a small amount of liquid detergent
• Do not use powder detergents or any products that contain fabric softeners, conditions or stain remover as these will affect your garment’s performance
• Never use bleach
• Rinse twice on a low spin cycle to reduce creasing
• Do not wash with heavily soiled clothing
• Never dry clean

How to drying GORE-TEX garments

• Ideally you should line dry your garment.
• Once dry, iron it on a gentle, warm setting (no steam) by placing a cloth between the garment and the iron to reactive the durable water-repellent treatment on the outer fabric

OR

• Tumble dry on a warm, gentle cycle
• Once dry, continue to tumble dry for 20 minutes to reactive the durable water-repellent treatment on the outer fabric

How to keeping your GORE-TEX stuff waterproof

“Wet out” is when liquid saturates your garment’s outer fabric and you feeling damp, like your garment is leaking even though it’s not.

To stop wet out, all GORE-TEX® outer fabrics have an ultra-thin treatment called DWR which penetrates the fibres and lowers the surface tension of the fabric. This causes water to bead up and roll off the outer layer of fabric, instead of being absorbed.

DWR is not permanent; its lifespan gets shortened by regular wear and tear, dirt, washing with detergents and so on.

If you can no longer reactivate the factory applied treatment, you will need to apply a new water-repellent treatment to the outer fabric.