I was chatting with a golf buddy a few weeks ago. He wasn’t happy with me at all.
He was letting me know about his displeasure with the rather expensive Galvin Green rain gear he had bought a couple of seasons prior. It wasn’t repelling water anymore, and it was all my fault.
It was me, after all, who recommended he buy it in the first place.
Hey, he wanted the good stuff, so I said if you want the best, you go KJUS, Galvin Green, Abacus or higher-end FootJoy.
“Worked dandy for the first couple of years,” he told me. “But now it’s absorbing all that water. What the hell is wrong with you?”
Between the jacket and pants, my friend dropped close to $800 for his rain gear. For that kind of scratch, he was expecting more than two years’ worth of performance.
So, frankly, was I.
What’s a golfer to do?
When it comes to rain gear, you have two choices.
You can buy cheap stuff and just replace it when it’s no longer waterproof. Alternatively, you could buy expensive stuff and then bitch and moan when it’s no longer waterproof.
Or you could just not play golf when it’s raining but what the hell fun is that?
Anyway, since my friend was holding me responsible for his underperforming rain gear, I reached out to Galvin Green for some help. Turns out waterproofs, regardless of manufacturer, require periodic maintenance.
I honestly did not know that but as Greek philosopher Epictetus famously said:
It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.
As it turns out, you can refresh your rain gear. It’s not all that hard, either.
Wash, rinse, repeat
Every waterproof garment you buy comes with detailed care instructions. Like most men, my default setting is “Screw the instructions.” In the case of waterproofs, however, the instructions can save you money. You can resolve loss of waterproofosity (?) simply and easily with proper care.
Galvin Green, for example, says with its Gore-Tex and Pertex waterproofs, the first step is to machine wash the garment by itself in the permanent press cycle in warm water, around 105 degrees F. They recommend using only a small amount of liquid detergent. Do NOT use powdered detergent, fabric softeners, stain removers or bleach.
The important part here is to wash it by itself.
Next, either line dry it or tumble dry it at a low temperature on a gentle cycle. Tumble drying will activate the durable water-repellent (DWR) treatment on the outer fabric. When the DWR loses its effectiveness, the garment won’t shed water like it did when it was new. You won’t get wet, per se, but water will soak into the garment itself. This is usually what we experience when we think our raingear isn’t working anymore.
Home laundering is the best but if you have to take it to a dry cleaner, ask them to use a clear, distilled hydrocarbon solvent for rinsing, and then spray DWR on the outer fabric between drying cycles.
Also, if you can’t tumble dry to reactive the DWR, you can use an iron. Set it to low heat (no steam!) and place a towel or cloth between the garment and the iron.
If you can’t reactivate the DWR
The durable water-repellent treatment isn’t a forever thing. You can usually reactivate it simply by washing and drying. Galvin Green, KJUS and FootJoy say machine washing is the key step to remove dirt, oils and other gunk that can reduce water repellency. The heat from drying will then reactivate the DWR. As always, follow the care instructions on the garment label.
The DWR does wear off over time, however. You’ll know the DWR is cooked when water won’t bead on the surface, no matter what you do. When that happens, you’ll need to apply a DWR restoration product and activate it according to that product’s instructions.
Commonly used products include Revivex, Nikwax or TX.Direct. There’s no schedule for reapplying a DWR. How often you’ll need to do it depends on use, washing frequency, abrasion and exposure to things like dirt, sunscreen and body oils. A good rule to follow is to check whether water still beads on the fabric after each wash. You don’t need to reapply the DWR if washing and heat reactive the finish.
If you use your rain gear a lot, you might have to refresh the DWR once, maybe twice, a season. If you only use is occasionally, every few years might be enough.
As always, if you are going to reapply the DWR, always follow the instructions on the bottle. They’ll always recommend cleaning the garment first. Spray-on products are usually preferred over wash-in products. It’s better for breathable waterproofs because they target the outer fabric.
After applying the treatment, tumble dry on low (if the garment care tag allows) for about 20 minutes. If you can’t tumble dry, use the warm iron and towel trick. Test it when it cools down. If water beads, you’re good. If not, you may need a second application.
Hope this helps
Maybe you buy el-cheapo rain gear because you rarely play in the rain. Maybe you buy the primo stuff for that once-in-a-lifetime trip to St Andrews. Or maybe you mostly use your waterproofs to walk the dog. Regardless, rain gear will eventually lose its ability to shed water. That doesn’t mean it’s junk or that it’s worn out, though.
Try these simple steps to breathe some new life into your waterproofs. If you do buy the premium products from the likes of Galvin Green, KJUS or FootJoy, know they do offer repair and reproofing services.
More often than not, however, a simple wash and tumble dry will get your rain gear shedding water like new again.
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