JIRPers have a long and storied history of using well-worn and second-hand clothing and equipment. We take our legacy of doing what we can with what we’ve got very seriously (thank you, Arthur Ashe). Part of that is maintaining and repairing old clothing and equipment before buying replacements. Additionally, cleaning your valuable outdoor clothing is the best way to keep it working for many seasons to come. It’s difficult to clean things on the Icefield beyond a simple soap-and-water scrub, so give any heavily used items a good wash before coming to Juneau Week Orientation.

Cleaning technical clothing, especially, requires some different processes than cleaning street clothes. Please look through our tips below, and send us new ones if you have them. These are friendly pointers. Always read the labels, test cleaning products and processes on small corners that aren’t readily visible, avoid harsh soaps, detergents, bleach, and high heat drying if you aren’t familiar with their effects on delicate items.

Washing fleece and synthetic shirts

Fleece and polypro or similar base layers tend to get smelly after a season or two of use. To fix this, you want to soak the item in a combination of warm water, a double dose of laundry detergent, and 1-2 cups of baking soda. This is most easily accomplished in the washing machine by setting up the load to run, then pausing it (lift the lid on a top loader) for 1-2 hrs or overnight before resuming the cycle. If you don’t have access to a washing machine at home, you can put everything together in a bucket or sink, agitate by hand under there are suds and everything is well mixed, and then let it sit. Regardless, make sure you rinse it well when you’re done.

Washing wool

Wool is famous for not needing to be washed often, but you should still give it a wash once in a while. With new wool (Darn Tough, Icebreaker, Smartwool, etc.) follow the label directions. For old wool: If the label allows (ie not “dry clean only”), you can wash on a washing machine “hand wash” cycle, in a bucket, or in the sink. We recommend using a gentle soap like unscented Dr. Bronners. If washing by hand, agitate it gently: don’t scrub or rub, just swish it around in circles loose in the water. Never wring wool out! Gently squeeze it over the sink, lay it flat on a dry towel, then roll it up and press firmly so the towel pulls the water out. Then lay it flat to air-dry overnight.

Washing sleeping bags and puffy jackets

** Warning: this is an all-day project. ** Sleeping bags and big puffy jackets are made up of “baffles” - the cloth compartments that hold the insulation. Washing these items in a top-loading washing machine with an agitator arm sticking up in the middle can rip the baffles open and ruin the item. A front-loading washing machine works well, or you can use a sink (for jackets) or a bathtub (for sleeping bags). In a sink or bathtub, fill with water. Add the item in question and the appropriate soap - down soap or unscented Dr. Bronner’s for down, regular laundry detergent for synthetic. Agitate by hand, and let it soak for 1-2 hours. Agitate again, then drain. Repeat fill-agitate-drain with as many rinses as it takes for the water to run clear.

When drying, treat the item very gently. Do not wring. Gently squeeze the water out. Roll the item in a dry towel and press firmly to get some of the water out. Repeat with several more dry towels. When most of the water weight is squeezed out, air dry or put the item in the dryer on “air fluff” or “low heat”. If the item is down, put in 3-4 clean tennis balls. Down clumps up when it’s wet - the tennis balls will make a racket, but they break up the clumps as the item dries. Use as little heat as possible, and plan for this to take 3-8 hours of dryer time.

Washing shell layers (rain jackets and rain pants)

It’s important to wash shell layers about once a season. Waterproof/breathable fabric can get clogged with sweat and skin oils. It is highly recommended you use specially designed soap to wash it - Nikwax TechWash or similar. This cleans all the gunk out of the fabric without damaging it.

After washing you should refresh the DWR coating. DWR is on the outside of the shell, it causes the water to bead up and keeps the pores of the breathable layer open so they can breath. You can refresh the DWR with either a spray-on or a wash-in product (Nikwax Tx.Direct or similar). We recommend spraying - it keeps the product on the outside. Washing in also works, but you’ll DWR coat the inside of the item as well as the outside. Either way, set the DWR by drying with item with low heat in the dryer for ~20 minutes. Do not use the zero heat setting, the DWR needsthe heat to set.

Patching, stitching, and darning

Check all previously used items over to see if they need patches or other repairs. For woven items, don’t be afraid to get out the needle and thread/yarn! There are plenty of youtube tutorials on stitching up rips and darning holes. For heavyweight cloth (backpacks especially), unwaxed dental floss makes great thread (it doesn’t look great, so use caution, but it works well).

For non-woven technical clothing, especially shells material and ripstop nylon, there are stick-on ripstop cloth patches you can cut to shape. Tenacious Tape makes an especially popular product. Make sure the damaged surface is clean and dry. Cut the patch to be bigger than the hole and roughly rounded - sharp corners pull up easily. Apply carefully to avoid wrinkles.

Removing duct tape residue

Duct tape residue tends to show up everywhere there is an enthusiastic user. Once you remove the tape, put the item on a level surface. Put a paper towel over the spot and soak it through with vegetable oil. Let the vegetable oil sit for an hour, and then clean with soap and water. Beware of cloth items that may be stained by the vegetable oil.