Can't speak to the hydrophobic fabrics and detergent, but I can speak to effectiveness of this amazing stuff:

https://rockingreen.com/...ctive-wear-detergent

You can use it as THE detergent/soap, or as a pre-soak (and then don't use additional soap). It has rehabbed some seriously funky items for me.

Sweatxsport.com

I have tried several, and in order of preference:
1: Rockin Green
2: Sweat X
3: Hex
4: Win

most detergents do not work well or are not advised for technical clothing. My understanding is they leave a residue. I have found sodium bicarbonate/ baking soda and sometimes a bit of borax works just fine for me. There is no residue and the odours are gone. If I need to get rid of some dirt I might add just a touch (a couple of mls) of a biodegradable detergent to the sodium bicarb and that does the job. These are really simple and inexpensive solutions that I have found to work for me.

Tide+ sport. Never had any issues with either my regular workout stuff or my try suits (Kiwami amphibian and Ld spider, make sure you soak/hand wash those).

 "Sport Suds Sport Detergent | Odor Remover Sport Wash 500g Zipper Pouch 40+ Loads"
Available from Amazon. We have had great results for sports clothing of all types with
only a (dry) Teaspoon used per load and it leaves everything with ZERO smell. As I said in another thread, it also makes me realize that
the big brands puff up the volume their product to make you think you are "getting a big box for your money".

The most economical is absolutely THE BEST. It is made by Atsko and is called Sport-Wash Laundry Detergent. Their Sensi-Clean laundry detergent is also the exact same product simply marketed to the hypersensitive, non-allergenic crowd. It is a liquid detergent that comes in multiple sizes from 1-ounce (1 load) packets up to 64-ounces (64 loads) bottles.

Clothes come out of the wash smelling like--NOTHING. No residue is left on your laundered clothes. Nothing is left to clog up the pores of the polyester performance fabrics. Clothing will be as soft and as breathable as possible. Just DO NOT ever use fabric softeners on your performance fabrics. They just clog up the fabric.

I'm just a twenty-year, fanatical, raving consumer of their no-nonsense product. Their packaging is low budget. But their science and resulting products have no peers. You can purchase online from the ATSKO website or even from Amazon.

Another vote for Tide Sport.

Defunkit. Developed in the material science lab up in Eugene, Oregon. It is an amazingly effective product. Very little cleans a lot.

http://www.defunkify.com - all the science explained here.

My wife is the ultimate judge of “clean”, and she insists this cleans my super sweaty stuff, and everything else, better than anything she has ever used- never a trace of smell :-)

I am a heavy sweater and sometimes stuff sits for a week before washing. Some of my regular running stuff is a decade old and I have never had issues using any version of tide, but typically use tide sport for the past few years at least. Maybe key is that you hang dry everything. Any time you heat something up it will bring the odors out. Also hand wash anything that may be delicate, I.e. swimskins, trisuits, etc......

Edited to add don’t leave wet/sweaty stuff stay wet like in a heap on the floor or at the bottom of the laundry bin. Let it dry if not washing right away.

+1

I also use Tide (regular) and hang dry when I actually wash my stuff.

Expensive race stuff gets hand-washed with a little bit of Tide.

I use sweatX. I have the additional misery of having very sensitive skin and hex and tide sport are brutal on me. Rockin green doesnt work nearly as well as sweatX, plus I can use less water and time washing my clothes with that protocol.

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Level II USAT Coach | Level 3 USAC Coach | NASM-CPT
Team Zoot | Tailwind Trailblazer
I can tell you why you're sick, I just can't write you an Rx

Another vote for Tide Sport. Been using Tide Sport for years without issue. But I do hang dry my workout clothes rather than putting them wet into the laundry basket. Once dry, they go into their own basket, and I wash workout stuff once a week. Rinse/spin a second time, and hang dry.

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I wanna go fast!

I've tried a bunch of the stuff people swear by in this thread with little luck. Some stuff smells fine coming out of wash but once I start sweating the rancid smell comes back. Admittedly most of the problem is with stuff I've been running in for years and should probably just move on.

I know the scent, and had that problem BEFORE using Tide Sport, but of course, YMMV. I think letting my stuff hang dry before putting it into the laundry basket, rather than throwing it in there wet, makes a big difference too.

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I wanna go fast!

This is what I've been doing lately: I "shower" with my workout clothes when I finish a workout. I mean, I just leave them on the floor while I shower, then I rinse and let them air dry before I putting them in the laundry basket. I use regular laundry detergent (Costco). Since I started doing that, my workout gear stopped smelling.

Atsko Sport Wash is great. Originally made for hunters, it's designed to leave no residue or oder. A regular wash with one extra rinse and you are good to go.

https://www.amazon.com/...le?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks for all the recommendations guys. I think i'll give a small bottle of tide sport a try as I'm most familiar with that brand. Might try others if its not great. Hopefully this helps others as well.

I would reccomend to not overdo it with the detergent and rinse thoroughly. A while back i was doing a group ride with about 30 guys. Conditions started out dry, but soon after we left it started to rain. We got soaked pretty fast, but kept on riding. Then i noticed one guy in front of me had foam and soap bubbles comming out of the chamois of his cycling bib.

As for washing, i just put my cycling stuff in the laundry, same detergent as whatever my wife uses for everything else.

Shirts don't really wear out. They get stretched a bit after a couple years, that's it. The bib wears out first. I use it untill it starts to turn greyish and transparent. I think that is mostly caused by use, sweat and sunlight and detergent has only a small role to play in this.

My sister uses Win and loves it. It's a little too expensive for me so I use a simple detergent without any fragrances or dyes (All Free and Clear) and then I add a splash of Chlorhexidine to the wash. This works beautifully for washing stinky shoes also. Another sister goes on long touring vacations (like 10 days walking around Paris) and carries some dilute Chlorhexidine in a spray bottle. Keeps the shoes from getting smelly like they used to. It's as effective as bleach without the corrosive and fabric-deteriorating properties. Give it a shot.

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https://connect.garmin.com/modern/profile/domingjm

Tide or Tide Sport!

My kid works for P&G in sales and is still in the "this is so interesting" phase so, I know way more than I ever wanted to about laundry detergent. I think she literally has an 8 hour power point with all the excruciating details on why Tide is the best laundry detergent ever made by man, much of the contents of which she has randomly shared with us when visiting. Among other fun facts she has shared with us, in detail, at dinner, is the amazing science P&G does on analyzing all the different crap the human body can put out into clothes and then all the chemistry that goes into removing it from every type of fabric. P&G actually knows exactly why your clothes stink! And, based on my single contact within the company, they are highly confident they are by far your best shot at getting your stuff clean.

Anyway, if a company can sell 30% more than the second place brand year after year, its product probably doesn't suck ;-)

In all seriousness, I have used Tide for years (even before I started getting it for free ;-) on my sports stuff and it works great.

I’ve had good luck with arm & hammer. It’s cheap and works. Also to reiterate what someone said about sodium bicarbonate which is baking soda.

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I still lapped everyone on the couch!