How do you clean your apparel?

[Deleted User]

Okay Ironmoms, help me out with this one...

I'm trying to do my best to keep my tri gear (in particular, my cycling apparel) in good shape by cleaning regularly. Basically what I do is I keep a spray bottle with a mix of landry detergent and water in my shower, and after every ride, I spray down my jersey/shorts/etc and rinse throughly with cold water. Seems to be working well, as my stuff smells pretty nice afterwards. I also clean off whatever stains with Shout stain remover. I hope that's not damaging any of the technical fabric...

I recently bought a pure white Craft Kona Tri Top, and it's probably going to drive me nuts keeping it clean and white . Any tips on how you keep your gear looking good?

coop6

I've never had an all white top before, just white highlights so i don't do anything extra special with my gear and it still comes out white after washing. I just throw it all in the washing machine, gentle cycle, cold water, with the same laundry soap I use for the rest of the family. I add a second rinse if it's extra stinky. If I want to look extra special, I'll also throw in my daughter's glitter dress and everything comes out all sparkly Air dry on a rack.

You might try soaking the top for awhile after you spray it down before you actually wash it. That would help loosen up any stains. Oxyclean would definitely damage the fabric, but I'm not sure about Shout.

ezellrh

Well, I'm not a "Ironmom", but I do all the laundry for a house of five, so I may be qualified. I have lots of white stuff for cycling and running and like Sarah, I don't do anything special with it. Wash with the other whites on cold.

Tom Glynn

I too am an Iron Dad that does the laundry

I wash all the sports clothes separtely from the regular clothes. There are a couple really good sports detergents out there. Kills the odor and clothes look good when done. The one I use is here: http://www.rei.com/product/837238/penguin-sport-wash-laundry-detergent-42-oz

Jess Withrow

Ironmoms... Haha!

I second the Sport Wash. I also like Tide Febreeze Sport. For fresh perspiration, pour some ammonia in a bowl and hold the fabric over it for a few minutes - the fumes can prevent sweat stains from setting in. Older perspiration stains can come out with vinegar and water (~1Tbs vinegar to ~1 cup water), but I don't know how that'd work on technical fabric... Hydrogen peroxide can get blood out, but not sure what it would do to technical fabric either (so... better advice would be to avoid anything that might draw blood! ;-)

I also use Shout and cold water immediately after a race to get dirt/grime/water nastiness out. Doesn't always work as well as I'd like it to depending on how dirty the fabric is, but it helps!

Coach Rich

JnI do a lot of laundry and about 95% of it is sporty sporty apparel. Cold water, regular detergent in a front loading washer on the "Active Wear" setting (no idea what's different about it). I hang up the cycling bibs and jersey to dry, especially the bibs. In my experience, nothing blows out the elasticity of bike shorts faster than the dryer so the key is to let it air dry.

Spokane_Al

When it is my turn to do the wash, everything goes into the machine together - the goal is to pack it to minimize the loads. When it is time to throw the stuff in the dryer, I try to remember to separate the tech stuff from the rest of the wash. Sometimes I remember, and many times I don't.

It hasn't seemed to affect my stuff much.

[Deleted User]

Great stuff, thanks guys. I too air dry my cycling stuff. I guess I prefer to wash my stuff right away because I don't want my sweat and other nastiness to set in by tossing all my gear in to my laundry bin, which I deal with once a week. I'll have to look into getting sports detergent though; I've always though of it as just another marketing gimmick for [tri]athletes. 

Jump4Joy19

The only white tech fabric I've ever ruined was by using a product called (I think) Sport Shield - it was similar to Glide but rolled on. Everywhere it touched the tech fabric, it turned it a brownish grey color that never came out. Other than that, we just throw all the laundry in our front loader and hang it out to dry.  With as much laundry as my kids produce, I don't have time to get fancy.

jelmermd

x2 on the TooBusyToDoAnythingOutOfTheOrdinary philosophy
throw everything in the front loader
hang up the tech stuff
works for me

William Jenks

+1 for James's recipe. We use Tide. Nothing fancy.

Dino Sarti

Hahaha. I now have a vision of Anson standing the shower in full kit using a spray bottle on all his clothes while wearing them....

I fall into the nothing special category, unless I am dripping when I come in the door, usually after a run. Then I hang it to dry before tossing into the hamper with everything else.

I have a FULL white Capo kit. Sort of the "John Travolta Saturday Night Fever" cycling look and it has held up pretty well with this treatment.

Beth_S

Hm. I have awesome, homemade laundry detergent that is keeping my clothes beautiful. If anything is extra smelly, I throw a little baking soda into the wash.

My favorite Craft cycling jersey, which is white, has an unfortunate espesso gel stain on it. I have no idea how to get those out. I have learned Hammer gels come out of everything since then. =-)

MattAaronson

Posted By Rich Strauss on 20 May 2012 04:25 PM

JnI do a lot of laundry and about 95% of it is sporty sporty apparel. Cold water, regular detergent in a front loading washer on the "Active Wear" setting (no idea what's different about it). I hang up the cycling bibs and jersey to dry, especially the bibs. In my experience, nothing blows out the elasticity of bike shorts faster than the dryer so the key is to let it air dry.

 

Same here. No idea what the "active wear" setting is but I use it. Probably just marketing. And I hang dry everything.