Wash-in vs. Spray on DWR

I washed my 12 year old Gore-Tex EMS mountain parka in Nik Wax TX Direct Wash-In DWR. Later, forgetting I had done this to the parka I sprayed it with Revivex DWR.

Then I remembered I'd done the Nik Wax treatment. So I tested the parka under my sink faucet's spray nozzle and WOW! TOTAL DWR! Absolutely no wetting through after several minutes of hard spray on the same spot.

My seat-of-the-pants feeling is that using both DWRs was the key to this performance.

Oh, yeah, there was no breathability problem after using the Nik Wax wash in DWR on this and several other GTX garments including PacLite. I always washed the GTX garments with the Nik Wax wash liquid before treating with DWR.

I wear lined (uninsulated) VolCom snowboarder parkas as the outer layer in my winter bicycling outfit. The care instructions are dead certain recommendations for only a spray on DWR.

I suspect that this is to ensure that the hydrophobic/hydrophylic tendencies of the lining and outer shell are different.

So, perhaps the idea is that for a lined shell, the spray-on DWR is more appropriate.

I really got no positive help from either the snowboarder store or the local backpacking store (who sell snowboarder gear in winter) on this.

I never stopped to think that the recommendation for spray-on could be for the liner fabric behavior – I was totally focused on just the exterior fabric.

I was new to washing and restoring DWR products last year. I tried the Nik Wax products and used as directed on bottles…it was what was availabe at the time. I was surprised at how well it worked as all gear was like new and right off the shelf-even better.

Use the "tech wash" -as a washing agent(dirt etc)for just about everything instead of regular detergent(I used my hands in the sink)and give a thorough rinsing. Then hit the "wash in" for garments without wicking liners..your typical paclite or event rain jackets. I air dried and then finished off with a dryer too-although that wasn't required.
Then for garments with a liner they have a spray on I used instead of the wash in-for gear with the liners.
Both worked great and I am impressed with the new repellency.

Good article that covers DWR

Durable Water Repellent (DWR) Care
http://www.rei.com/expertadvice/articles/rainwear+dwr.html

So I washed my Mammut Nimba softshell pants in Nikwax, and then remembered they had a thin fleece lining inside. I wore pants several times after this and haven't noticed anything different about them. Not sure till now if that had inhibited the performance of the lining at all. Maybe on some molecular level i can't see… but nothing visible. Should i have not washed in Nikwax? I don't know. But for my purposes it worked just fine.

If you wanted to increase the water repellency of a 100 wt fleece pullover; what would you use?

I've done alot of testing with different spray on DWR treatments, wash in and down cleaners.

I'd recommend ReviveX over Nikwax. Both are good, but I find the ReviveX seems to give a better coating on softshell jackets and other similar items.

If you really want to get a DWR treatment as close to new, then wash your piece of gear first with the ReviveX Synthetic cleaner followed by the wash-in DWR treatment and finally a coating of the spray on DWR coating on high use areas like shoulders and elbows. Doing that will give your gear the best possible DWR renewal I can think of.