There are countless legends about the maintenance of GORE-TEX® clothing, but proper care is the one thing that will dramatically affect the lifespan of your clothing.

In extreme cases of improper maintenance and intensive use, you may be able to part with your jacket in less than four years, while the lifetime of a well-chosen product with proper maintenance can exceed ten years. So what should you know?

First of all, GORE-TEX® must be washed regularly. When the material is manufactured, its individual layers - lining, membrane and upper material (in the case of "three-layer" construction) - are bonded together under high temperature and pressure using a polyurethane binder, a process known as lamination.

However, polyurethane is susceptible to the effects of human sweat, especially the salts and grease contained in it, which gradually degrade its structure. This will sooner or later lead to an effect called delamination - the "eating away" of the bonding polyurethane and the breakdown of the material into its original individual layers.  The tape covering the seams delaminates first. It always starts behind the neck and around the face in areas that are in direct contact with human skin and consequently sweat.

Poorly (or not at all) maintained 2015 Evolution jacket

Properly maintained Storm jacket from 2014

After delamination of the tape, the layers of the material itself are also delaminated. After that, the membrane is easily damaged and the clothing is no longer waterproof, this phenomenon is irreversible and the jacket cannot be repaired. It is therefore clear that in order to delay delamination as much as possible, we need to eliminate the effects of sweat as much as possible by regular washing.

On the two jackets compared (which were worn with similar intensity over the 9 and 10 years), the delamination of the sleeve cuff tape is also clearly visible - it is the second area after the neck that is good to keep watch on.

The tape on the 9-year-old Evolution jacket is delaminating

10 year old Storm still looks very good thanks to proper maintenance

So why 25 years ago (and unfortunately we still hear it a lot today) the word was  that GORE-TEX® materials should be washed as little as possible?

The amount of polyurethane binder used in those constructions was significantly higher, so it took considerably longer for the deleterious effects of sweat to appear. On the other hand, the products of the time were noticeably heavier and less vapour permeable. At the same time, the detergents of the time were not gentle enough, in particular they quickly reduced the effectiveness of the impregnations. For many years now, however, the situation has been reversed - we have lighter, more breathable jackets that require regular washing and detergents that allow us to do this safely. There's nothing to worry about at all, as long as maintenance instructions are followed, GORE-TEX® can handle many dozens of wash cycles without changing its technical characteristics.

HOW TO MAINTAIN GORE-TEX® PRODUCTS

Find a short and simple guide on GORE-TEX care here.