Impregnation of work clothes

The jacket starts to get wet, the water starts to splash in the shoes? Sounds familiar? This is most often the result of a lack of proper impregnation. The leaves on the trees have already turned red and orange, which is a sign that you need to protect your clothes from water, mud, snow and rain as soon as possible. I invite you to read a short article about the use of Nikwax waterproofing agents.
Impregnation of work clothes - a bit of theory

Most water-repellent products leave the factory with a factory-applied DWR coating that is designed to "repel" water from the fabric's surface. This coating wears out over time, washes out and clothes begin to absorb water like a sponge. Of course, there are also clothes, such as cotton sweatshirts that do not have such a coating at all. Why is it important? It can be said in short that the less water in the clothes, the better for us. The less damp clothes or shoes are, the warmer we feel, the better they breathe, the lighter and more pleasant they are to use.

Of course, work clothes get dirty on a regular basis (maybe apart from those we wear in our advertising films ;). Dirt affects not only the hydrophobic properties, but also weakens the fibers, clogs the vapor-permeable pores of the material or, even worse, the breathable membrane. Mud, chemicals, road salt left on the surface of the shoe perfectly dries the skin, damages the microfiber, weakens the fibers of the shoe's upper. In a word, if you do not clean your clothes and shoes, you yourself shorten their life.

We already know why we need good "water resistance" and now how to make it good. How and with what to wash work clothes? We will not reinvent the wheel here and we use the rich experience developed by the mountain and outdoor community. Mountain clothes and the conditions in which they are used are very similar to work clothes.

You just bought a work jacket or work shoes – now what?

As we wrote above, they should already have a protective coating against moisture applied at the factory, but it's worth doing it your way and correctly. Impregnating agents can be applied to both wet and dry material - it is only important that it is clean. Now it's time to choose the right measure. At this stage, we are interested in Nikwax Leather Sealant or Nikwax Garment Sealant. In our store you will also find special impregnating agents for fleece, gloves, etc. Let's get to work.

     • Prepare a place on the floor and protect it from dirt. Impregnating agents usually leave behind a very slippery film, so if you spray yourself on the floor, you are guaranteed to slip.

     • Take a bottle with an atomizer and spray the surface of a jacket or shoe solidly from a distance of about 20 cm. I spray until they get wet (the fabric changes color, drops appear on its surface).

     • Wait 2-3 minutes.

     • If there is anything left on the fabric, take a wet cloth and wipe off the excess (just remember, cotton cloths leave lint, so use something that does not leave lint).

     • Now let the product dry.

     • Congratulations, you have now successfully secured your product!
My clothes are already dirty - now what?

I probably won't surprise anyone that they need to be cleaned well. Someone will say, mehhh... I'm not going to play around taking care of the work bums. Tick to the washing machine and off. First of all, of course, it's an individual matter for everyone how they want to take care of their clothes. Secondly, if you spent PLN 500 on a jacket, it seems to me that it is also worth spending some time to make this jacket last a little longer. After 3... think of your clothes as your pampered car.

Just a word of introduction, such shoes have not yet been created (except for galoshes) and such a jacket has not yet been created (except for a rubber storm jacket) so that they do not need to be cleaned and impregnated.

clothes cleaning:

     remove heavy dirt such as mud, glue, construction chemicals, you can do it with a brush or a damp cloth,
     take all items out of your pockets, fasten the zippers, you don't have to take the knee pads out of your pants,
     clean the washing machine feeder of powder and fabric softener residues and do not add any detergent to this wash cycle
     put 2-4 pieces of pre-cleaned clothes in the washing machine
     read the washing instructions on the label or give the clothes to your mother or wife because let's face it, she knows better to take care of them ;)
     it is best to set the program for synthetic clothes at 30-40 degrees
     add detergent to the laundry according to the instructions on the packaging, shake the bottle well before pouring, if you know that you have very hard water, add 50% more liquid than recommended by the manufacturer
     take out, air dry and ready (if you want to impregnate right away, go to the next step)
     you do not need to impregnate after each wash, usually well-impregnated clothes will retain their properties for 2-3 consecutive washes

Clothes impregnation:

     remember first in wash clothes and prepare according to the instructions above
     remove all items from pockets, fasten zippers
     clean the washing machine container of powder and fabric softeners and do not add any detergents
     set the program according to the label - usually it is best to set it to 30 degrees and low speed
     air dry or tumble dry at low temperature after the cycle is complete

We will write about how to clean and impregnate work shoes in the next post in a week.