How do I wash Wise clothes?

Washing trail clothing, and especially technical textiles such as membranes or water-repellent fabrics, is the subject of much debate in outdoor sports circles. Between washing aficionados 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 fair to say that there's a lot to be said for being confused.

With this in mind, we've decided to share our best practices for washing your Wise garments. At least, that's what we do.

All Wise products (Dawa Sherpa Series, Compact Series and Core Series) should be washed using this method. This also applies to all our water-repellent products: Blackshell, Nanoshell 160g, Legging Sherpa, Nanopant, Nanoshell 360g.

 

Why wash your clothes ?

 

This may seem a trivial question at first glance, but for technical garments, washing is a real issue of durability. Dust, dirt and salt from perspiration are all elements that attack your garments.

Maintaining them will considerably increase their lifespan. And it's the same for shoes: dirt and grime tend to damage the upper mesh more quickly through abrasion. We therefore recommend washing your shoes as often as possible.

It's just as important to wash products with a waterproof-breathable membrane like Blackshell or a water-repellent treatment like Nanoshell. A common misconception is that machine washing will reduce waterproofing and water-repellency.

But on the contrary, it's important to wash them to retain all their technical properties. So yes, you can wash a jacket with membrane or water-repellent treatment just like any other ;)

 

When to put your clothes in the washing machine ?

 

Today, we're going to take a look at how to machine-wash Wise garments.

For optimum product care, we recommend alternating between hand rinsing/washing and machine washing. It's not necessary to machine-wash your clothes after every outing. After a jog or a long endurance run without breaking a sweat, a simple rinse/wash in cold or lukewarm water (30°) will be enough to remove all odors. And as smelling good is essential, you can add a small dab of liquid detergent.

Unlike a more aggressive machine wash, rinsing by hand will also limit the number of polymer micro-particles that end up in the water and then in our oceans!

We still recommend washing your clothes every 3/4 uses or after a long outing in the blazing sun!

 

 

How do you wash your clothes in the washing machine?

 

Here's how to machine-wash Wise products.

The first 4 steps are common to all products.

The 5th only applies to 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:

• Empty all pockets, not forgetting the packaging used on the last ultra ;)

• Close all zippers. Very important to prevent a loose ZIP from damaging other garments.

• Untie all knots (e.g. the knot on the Sherpa Race Short's waistband).

• Loosen all elastic cords (on the bottom of the Blackshell, for example)

• Place clothes in a Guppy Friend. A pillowcase also works well.

 

To wash technical products, it's essential to use liquid detergent. Be careful not to use powdered detergent. Powdered detergent blocks the ports in the membrane of a blackshell, for example. The jacket will then lose all its breathability.

Be careful not to use perfume, bleach, fabric softener or colorants. Use only liquid detergent.

 

Once in the guppy friend, WISE garments should be washed at 30°c with a one-hour or synthetic cycle. Set the spin speed to 800 rpm maximum.

 

Air-dry garments on a drying rack. Do not tumble dry or iron.

 

After a decade or so of use in the rain, the water-repellent treatment will tend to disappear, so water droplets will no longer bead up on the surface of the fabric, but will soak directly into it. In reality, the water-repellent treatment doesn't really disappear, it just gets dirty.

With a simple tumble dryer, it's easy to revive the water-repellent treatment of your garments. Once washed and dry, putting the garments in the tumble-dryer for 10-15 minutes on a synthetic or wool program will suffice to revive the treatment.

 

 

This is how we wash our clothes: simply and effectively.

Of course, this method was recommended to us by our various partners (PAYEN / PETRATEX) and we also tested it on our prototypes.

If you're not sure whether to take action, or if you have any other questions, don't hesitate to write to our customer service team. We'll be happy to help.

 

To see all our tips on video, click here! :) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrp-i-x8jkw