Care Instructions for GORE-TEX outerwear

Be sure to read the manufacturer’s care tag first. Wash your GORE-TEX garment in the washing machine in warm (105°F/40°C) water. For the best results, use a small amount of liquid detergent. Please do not use powder detergents, fabric softener or chlorine bleach.

Wash your garment as often as you need to remove such impurities as dirt, campfire smoke and cooking odors. Washing, drying and reheating your garment helps restore the durable water repellent (DWR) that is important to the performance of a GORE-TEX garment. Do not tumble dry GORE-TEX SHAKEDRY™ garments.

You can use a gentle cycle that does not rigorously spin the garment. Reducing the spinning (400 rpm or lower) will minimize creasing.

For best results, we recommend using liquid rather than powder detergents.

Depending on local water quality and load fill it is recommended to use one ounce/30ml per load.

You do not need to wash your GORE-TEX garment by itself. You can wash it with similar garments that are not heavily soiled. We suggest a second rinse cycle to ensure that all the detergent is completely rinsed out of the garment.

We do not recommend stain removers. Instead, we recommend using liquid detergent locally on the stained areas or in the pre-wash cycle of your washing machine to remove stains and heavy soil. If your machine does not have a pre-wash cycle, simply soak the garment in warm water with liquid detergent.

Please do not use bleach with any GORE-TEX garment. It could affect the color and performance of the garment.

We recommend line-drying your garment; it uses less energy and reduces your impact on the environment. Once it’s dry, tumble dry the garment for 20 minutes to reactivate the durable water repellent (DWR) treatment on the outer fabric. Do not tumble dry GORE-TEX SHAKEDRY™ garments, no need to reactivate the DWR treatment in GORE-TEX SHAKEDRY™ garments.

GORE-TEX garments are treated with an ultra-thin coating known as DWR, or durable water repellent. This treatment causes water to bead up and roll off the outer layer of garment, instead of being absorbed. Regular wear and tear, as well as exposure to dirt, sunscreen lotion, bug repellents, detergents, campfire smoke, cooking odors and other impurities diminish the water repellency of your garment. If water repellency can no longer be reactivated by washing and drying you’ll need to reapply a durable water repellent (DWR), this can be a spray or wash-in product. Be sure to always follow the manufacturer’s instructions for reapplication—and don’t forget to activate it by following our instructions for tumble dry or ironing.

We recommend pump-action sprays instead of aerosol sprays to reduce the environmental impact. However, technically an aerosol spray can be used.

Dry-cleaning does not harm GORE-TEX fabric. However, always follow the manufacturer’s care instructions for your particular garment to make sure they recommend dry-cleaning. If you decide to professionally dry-clean your garment, request clear, distilled hydrocarbon solvent rinse and a spray-on or wash-in DWR repellent treatment with heat reactivation (tumble dry the garment for 20 minutes to reactivate the durable water repellent (DWR) treatment on the outer fabric). Do not dry clean GORE-TEX SHAKEDRY garments.

If dry-cleaning is necessary, we recommend a professional dry-cleaner that uses clear, distilled hydrocarbon solvents for rinsing. We do not recommend home dry-cleaning kits.

First check your manufacturer’s care instructions about ironing. We recommend using low temperatures (ironing symbol with 2 dots) and no steam. Place a cloth over the GORE-TEX garment so that the iron does not touch the garment directly.