Take 3 waterproofing products
Keeping your kit well-maintained will extend its lifespan and improve its performance, plus it’s kinder to the environment. David Lintern puts three leading ‘after care’ brands to the test
The science bit
PERFLUOROCARBONS, or PFCs, are the hydrophobic (water-repellent) chemical compounds often used in the membranes or finishes of the clothing that keeps us drier outdoors, sometimes called DWR (durable waterproof repellent). They are well suited to outdoor gear because they are very stable, resisting wear and multiple washes. However, stability has turned out to be a double-edged sword. The chemicals persist over decades in the environment and in our bodies, and are linked with cancers, reduced fertility, suppressed immunity and thyroid disruption – in both human and animal studies.
As a consequence, there’s a move to detox outdoor gear, either using less harmful PFCs or removing them altogether. The technical challenge is to maintain hydrophobic performance with less stable – and therefore less persistent and damaging – chemical replacements. Practically, that means increasing the frequency of cleaning and reproofing that we, the consumer, do at home.
That’s excellent news for the manufacturers of aftercare products, of course. It also makes this both a highly competitive market and quite confusing for us, the users!
The test
Garments are made up and treated differently at the point of manufacture, and in the review process I would subject the clothes to differing conditions – rain, wind, exertion and so on. I don’t live in a lab, so my test would need to be ‘real world’. That said, I wanted to be as objective as possible, so I used the same machines and the same garments each time.
Exhibit A was an old, three-layer Gore-Tex Pro jacket from Arc’teryx, now showing signs of wear on the sleeves, shoulders and seams. Exhibit B was an even older pair of Berghaus Gore-Tex Paclite trousers. Again, these have given sterling service but were ready for a refresh. The washer and tumble-dryer in my house are both very standard and were purchased between 2012 and 2014. Both were cleaned prior to this process, something that’s necessary in order to remove all ‘normal’ detergent.
Because dirt and oil inhibit the effectiveness of proofing products, I also used each brand’s cleaning solution ahead of reproofing. I did not ‘cross-test’ (use one brand’s cleaner with another brand’s proofer). After washing and reproofing the garments each time, I did lots of walking in the rain. I aimed for medium to heavy rain, with an emphasis on ‘persistent’ in each case, over several hours or more for each product.