How Often Should I Wash My Ski Gear?
- Henry
- Nov 1
- 6 min read
Washing your ski gear is an important part of looking after it and ensuring it remains up to spec for as long as possible. Here's how often you should wash your ski gear, and how to wash it.
I was on stage at the London Snow Show this October discussing sustainable ski gear when I was asked about the rise of new, more sustainable Durable Water Repellent coatings (DWR).
You can read more about the changes to DWR in my column for SKI // The Ski Club Magazine here, but to summarise harmful "forever chemicals" are being replaced with more environmentally friendly alternatives.
These have been criticised as being less effective, but the advice from brands has been to wash and re-proof your gear more often than previously. So how often should you wash and re-proof your ski gear?
How Often Should I Wash Ski Gear?
I was dumbfounded to learn that several of the group of strangers I was skiing with in Flaine this past March didn’t ever wash their ski gear. In their defence – not that it is much of one – they ski once a year, and air their gear out when they get home to get rid of any smells, and sponge off any muck or stains along the way.
Eww. Not much of a defence at all.
So yes, in short, you need to wash your ski gear. How often is a really good question, and, much in the same way as “how long as piece of string?”, there isn’t really an easy answer. The short answer is very much “whenever it needs to be washed”.
Put it another way; your ski gear is but another item of clothing, and we wash clothes depending on the intensity with which we use them and how dirty they get along the way. Sports gear we use for the gym or for running we wash after every use, because, by their inherent use, they get sweaty, dirty, and smelly. Shirts and jeans we can maybe stretch to a couple of wears before needing a washing, provided we’ve not run for too many busses and trains in that time – because our using of them does not generate as much dirty, grime, sweat and muck.
Your ski gear is no different. As a rule of thumb, I will wash my jacket and trousers after every two weeks of use. This generally means a mid-season and an end-of-season wash for me, and that schedule works for me; this year I did 32 skiing, so I got a wash in after day 20, perhaps a bit late but January was busy! For most of you only doing a week or two each year, an end-of-season wash is more than enough to keep everything fresh.
How do I Wash GoreTex/Waterproof Gear?
Washing technical gear, such as your waterproof and/or GoreTex ski jacket, is much easier than you think.
To start with, you will need something call techwash – this is a particular type of laundry detergent designed to work specifically with technical fabrics like waterproof ski jackets. It is very gentle, and many of them are now produced free from “forever chemicals”, a type of PFC that does not breakdown in the natural environment and can be very damaging to wildlife and humans.
The best places to buy these are in any good outdoor shop, and you’ll find two major brands – Grangers and Nikwax. Grangers tends to be more common in the UK and Ireland, whereas Nikwax is often the preference of North American shops. Occasionally, brands will have their own detergents, but brand loyalty is not necessary here. I have no reservations recommending either brand for your gear, and have had plenty of joy using both.
Before putting your ski gear in the machine, make sure all zips are done up and pull cords loosened. If your ski jacket has down, turn the item inside out before washing, and put this item in alone, without anything else. Generally, try to avoid washing any more than two items at a time, regardless of material, and if using a top-loading machine use a laundry bag.
Then, wash to the instructions on each bottle. This normally involves a cap or half cap of detergent per item, and I prefer placing this directly into the drum, rather than in the detergent draw. Do no add any other detergents or fabric softeners.
The instructions will recommend a thirty degree (celcisus), gentle cycle. I’ve had success with both Grangers and Nikwax down to 20°C, using either a delicate, cold sports, or hand wash cycle. This will vary considerably between machines, so go with what is closest to the instructions on the bottle and best matches on your machine.
How do I Wash Non-Technical Gear?
Okay, so this is a bit of a mis-nomer; by non-technical gear, I mean anything that isn’t waterproof and/or GoreTex.
In general, this is a much simpler process. To start things off, I wash my performance mid-layers (as an example) after every week of skiing – they sit much closer to the skin, are privy to much more sweat, smells, and dirt, and therefore become more disgusting far easier than your ski jacket.
I rarely wash non-tech gear with Grangers or Nikwax; it is just unnecessary. Instead, I pop them in the machine on a cold or 30°C relatively gentle wash, and just use normal laundry detergent. Again, don’t use any fabric softener, and try and use non-bio, unperfumed detergent. The reason for this is so we don’t clog the breathable pores with these chemicals and perfumes, reducing the item’s performance.
Similar to your ski jacket, zip up the pockets and loosen all toggles. Place it in the machine with only a couple of other items, and add the detergent this time to the detergent drawer as normal.
How Do I Dry My Ski Gear?
This is another really good question. First of all, let it drip dry; when you take it out of the machine for the first time, it will shed quite a lot of water, so make sure you have a basket or bucket to hand just to empty it into out of the machine.
Then, hang up and drip dry. I find it’s best to put it on a hangar to properly open the jacket out and allow all the water to drain off. Again, it will continue to shed quite a bit of water when it does this, so make sure it’s hung up outside or with a bucket or something underneath to catch the drips.
Once it’s mostly dry, you can tumble dry for a few minutes. This needs to be done relatively cool, but still with a little bit of heat; this helps reactivate the DWR (Durable Water Repellent) coating on the face fabric. It’s not essential to do this, but can be a good idea especially if drying GoreTex or other waterproof gear.
Occasionally, you will need to replace this DWR coating; this is a guide for another day, so stay tuned for that one when it comes along!
When the jacket is fully dry, it can be folded up and placed away until it is required again. And there we are, it is that easy to clean and dry your technical ski gear.
And What About Re-Proofing?
To bring everything round full circle, after washing your gear - and whilst still wet - hang it up, cover it liberally in re-proofing spray, and leave to allow the chemicals to soak into the face fabric. After a few minutes wipe off the excess with a damp cloth and run it through the dryer to fully activate the chemicals.
How often should this be done? In the past I've done this about once a season, probably right before the season begins to make sure I'm getting the best protection possible. With the dawn of new DWRs, this will be moved to twice a season, but this will depend massively on the amount of wear and tear my jacket sees over the course of the winter.
Final Thoughts
Please wash your ski gear! I think that is the takeaway from this piece. It is really easy to do, and with just a little bit of spend on tech wash, you can make sure your ski gear sparkles the next time you hit the slopes.
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