Washing and reproofing a waterproof: the whole procedure

Washing is maintenance, not damage

GORE-TEX publishes a care procedure for outerwear and it is specific. Machine wash at 40°C, using a small amount of liquid detergent. Do not use powder detergents, fabric softeners, stain removers or bleach. The reason is residue: powders and softeners leave a film on the face fabric that holds water against it, which is the exact condition you are trying to remove.

Rinse twice and minimise spinning. A second rinse clears detergent that a single cycle leaves behind, and a hard spin presses creases into a laminated fabric. Close every zip and fasten every storm flap before the jacket goes in, so that zip teeth do not abrade the face fabric for the length of the cycle.

How often depends on use rather than the calendar. A jacket worn 30 days a year and carrying a rucksack for most of them collects enough dirt at the shoulders for three washes a year to be sensible. A jacket worn occasionally in town may need one.

Heat is the step people skip

The durable water repellent treatment, or DWR, is an extremely thin layer on the outside of the face fabric that lowers its surface energy so water rolls off instead of soaking in. Washing removes the dirt that smothers it, and heat is what stands it back up. GORE-TEX specifies 20 minutes in the tumble dryer after the garment is dry.

If you have no tumble dryer, the published alternative is to iron the dry garment on a gentle warm setting with no steam, placing a towel or cloth between the iron and the jacket. That is a slower job on a full-size shell and it works on the same principle: controlled heat, no moisture.

Skipping the heat is why people conclude that washing ruined their jacket. The jacket comes out of the machine clean, wets out on the next walk because nothing reactivated the repellency, and the washing gets blamed. The 20 minutes is not optional in the procedure as written.

1. Wash at 40°C with a small amount of liquid detergent, zips closed
2. Rinse twice and keep the spin speed low
3. Dry the garment fully, by tumble dryer on a warm gentle cycle or on a line
4. Tumble dry a further 20 minutes to reactivate the DWR
5. Flick water onto a sleeve: if it beads and runs off, the job is done
6. If it soaks in rather than beading, go on to reproofing rather than washing again

When to re-treat rather than re-wash

GORE-TEX states the test plainly: when water stops beading, the DWR is not functioning correctly and needs either reactivating with the wash and heat process or reapplying with a pump spray or wash-in product. After application, the garment goes back in the tumble dryer for 20 minutes to activate the treatment.

The symptom you feel before you see it is temperature. The company's own description is that a garment can feel cold and clammy when water saturates the outer layer, even though the membrane is still keeping liquid water out. That is the sensation people misread as leaking.

One change worth knowing about: GORE-TEX notes that PFAS-free DWR is less resistant to oils and requires more regular maintenance. Newer jackets therefore want washing and reactivating more often than a ten-year-old shell did, which means the schedule you learned on an older garment is no longer the right one.

A year of upkeep, costed

On example figures, a £10 bottle of technical wash covering about 5 washes works out at £2 a wash, and three washes a year is £6. A £12 bottle of wash-in reproofer treats about two garments, so £6 each, used roughly once a year. That is about £12 a year for a single jacket.

Against an example £180 jacket worn 30 days a year, £12 a year is 40 pence a day of use. Over 6 years it is £72, and the jacket plus upkeep comes to £252 across 180 days, which is £1.40 a day. Without the upkeep the same jacket typically gets replaced sooner, which pushes the figure towards £3.00 a day.

Trousers, gaiters and a soft-shell share the same bottle, which is why the per-garment cost falls when you do a whole kit at once rather than a jacket at a time.

Wool, fleece and the layers underneath

The shell is not the only garment with a maintenance schedule. Knitted wool mid-layers keep insulating when damp and are ruined by the hot washes and agitation that suit synthetics, so they want a cool wash, no softener and drying flat rather than hanging, which is what pulls a jumper out of shape at the shoulders.

Fleece has the opposite problem. It survives washing easily and collects fabric softener, which fills the pile and flattens it, so the garment loses loft and stops trapping air. Washing fleece with the same liquid detergent you use on the shell, and no softener, keeps it working.

Storage matters more than most people expect. Store a shell loosely on a wide hanger rather than compressed in a stuff sack between seasons, because permanent creases in a laminate are where delamination starts. Clean before storing: body oils left on fabric for six months are harder to shift than oils washed out the same week.

Doing the whole set in one session is the efficient version of all this. One wash cycle takes the shell, the overtrousers and the gaiters together, one bottle of reproofer covers more than one garment, and the 20 minutes of heat at the end works on everything in the drum at once. Done twice a year that is about 2 hours of attention for a kit that would cost several hundred pounds to replace.

Before you buy

• Close every zip and storm flap before the jacket goes into the machine
• Wash at 40°C with a small amount of liquid detergent, and no powder or softener
• Rinse twice and keep the spin speed low
• Tumble dry a further 20 minutes after the jacket is dry, or iron warm with no steam through a cloth
• Flick water onto a sleeve and look for beading before deciding whether to reproof
• Budget about £12 a year for technical wash and reproofer for one shell
• Store the shell clean and loose on a wide hanger rather than compressed in a sack

Questions readers ask

Can I wash a waterproof with ordinary laundry detergent?

GORE-TEX specifies a small amount of liquid detergent and tells you not to use powders, fabric softeners, stain removers or bleach. An ordinary liquid detergent therefore meets the instruction, while an ordinary powder does not. The reason is residue: powder grains and softener films sit on the face fabric and hold water against it, which produces the wetting out you are washing to remove.

How often should I reproof rather than just wash?

Use the beading test rather than a schedule. Wash and apply the 20 minutes of heat first; if water still soaks into the face fabric instead of beading, the DWR has worn away and needs reapplying with a spray or wash-in product. For a jacket worn about 30 days a year that usually works out at roughly once a year.

Does a tumble dryer damage a waterproof jacket?

The published instruction is to tumble dry on a warm gentle cycle, and then to tumble a further 20 minutes once dry to reactivate the repellent treatment. The risk is heat setting rather than tumbling, so use the warm gentle setting rather than a hot cycle. If you have no dryer, ironing warm with no steam through a cloth is the published alternative.

My new jacket wets out faster than my old one. Why?

GORE-TEX notes that PFAS-free DWR is less resistant to oils and requires more regular maintenance than earlier treatments. A newer garment will therefore want washing and reactivating more often than a ten-year-old shell did at the same usage. Three washes a year rather than one is a reasonable starting schedule for 30 days of use.

Is a leaking seam worth repairing?

Usually yes, on the arithmetic. Seam tape repair costs a fraction of an example £180 replacement, and lifting tape is a local failure rather than a sign the fabric has gone. Washing will not fix it, so the sequence is: confirm the water is entering along a stitch line rather than through the fabric, then repair the tape.

Sources

1. GORE-TEX — outerwear care instructions (40°C wash, liquid detergent, 20 minutes tumble to reactivate DWR) — checked 2026-11-03
2. GORE-TEX — durable water repellency (DWR) explained, including PFAS-free DWR maintenance — checked 2026-11-03
3. BSI — BS EN 343:2019, Protective clothing. Protection against rain — checked 2026-11-03