A fundamental component of all technical outerwear is its Durable Water
Repellent (DWR) which serves as your clothing’s barrier against moisture. Gear
can lose up to 70% of its breathability when the outer fabric absorbs water,
dirt and sweat. I know in my circle of friends that is just about
anything we do for work or play. Therefore, the Durable Water Repellency (DWR)
on the outer fabric of your gear must be maintained to ensure effectiveness.
This increases the duration of your element’s effectiveness in adverse weather
conditions and extended operations.
The nature of our work and play necessitates that we run our technical
and tactical gear pretty hard so it gets grimy and sweaty. But, you gotta get
your kit clean..right! DWRs will wash out of most technical gear within 20
washes or less. Do not use regular clothing detergents and fabric softeners;
they leave a residue within the gear that affects DWR and IRR treatments. Additionally,
applying a new Durable Water Repellent (DWR) treatment is most effective when
the gear is clean. For cleaning gear, prior to a DWR treatment, I
recommend Nikwax
Tech Wash. “It will revitalise existing Durable Water Repellency (DWR) and
revive breathability. It is the safe way to thoroughly clean your waterproof
clothing and equipment. Application in a washing machine is quick, easy, and
ensures that the whole garment is thoroughly cleaned.”[1] I have used it for
years on my technical/tactical gear with great success.
Once, you have it clean it is time to apply the DWR treatment. I highly
recommend the spray in treatments. They take a little longer to apply but you
can be more accurate with its application than a wash in. Wash in treatments
will also treat the inside of clothing and have a negative effect on their
breathability. I use Nikwax
TX.Direct Spray On for all my wet weather clothing such as Gortex hard
shells. “It’s highly Durable Water Repellency (DWR) develops on air drying. The
need for tumble drying is removed, protecting more vulnerable, older, garments
from heat. Nikwax TX.Direct® Spray-On has been specifically designed and
optimized for breathable waterproof garments; it leaves a flexible water
repellent treatment on individual fibres allowing moisture vapour to pass
through, maintaining breathability. The spray-on application allows for direct
treatment of areas which require it most (e.g. elbows and seams on jackets) and
will not compromise the properties of internal wicking liners.”[2] For soft
shells, I use Nikwax
Softshell Proof Spray-On. Tactical quality hard shells and soft shells are
expensive but well worth the price for their performance. Renewing the DWR
using the proper process will renew the fabric and give you long years of
service.
You do not always need to re-treat you technical/tactical gear with commercial
DWR treatments. After washing with a proper tech wash, put the clothing into
the dryer on a warm cycle and iron it on low heat. This will realign the fibres
and open the fabric for breathability. If after doing this water does not bead
on the outer garment, then run to your local outdoors store or high end
tactical gear supplier and get some DWR treatment.
Another thing that I do to all my rigs and packs is apply a UV
protection spray. UV will slowly degrade stitching, webbing and colour, thus
ruining the effectiveness of your fighting gear or packs. High quality
equipment is expensive and to ignore the effects of UV is ‘pound foolish and
penny wise’. After every deployment or extensive training cycle, I wash my gear
with Nikwax
Tech Wash and re-treat it with Nikwax
Tent & Gear Solarproof. This product “maintains the
water repellency tents and outdoor gear, protects tents and gear against UV
degradation, one application can double the effective life of gear and
gear dries quickly for packing away” [3] This re-vitalizes the gear and as an
added bonus it increases water resistance to the kit too. When working in wet
environments, my gear will not absorb as much water; reducing my weight load.
Why carry rain water that has soaked into your gear? Ammo, medical gear, comms
systems, illumination systems and the batteries that power them are heavy
enough. If it is particularly long deployment, I will treat the gear prior as
well.
‘Take care of your kit so it can take care of you’ is an old infantry
axiom. It has never been truer with integration of technical gear into the
tactical world. Spend the extra time and pennies. Get a full life cycle out of
your issue or self-procured gear. This is the minutia that separates the
operators from the ordinary.
Take care out there.
Take care out there.
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