A Tip from Emilio: Prolong the life of your clothing.
The information below applies to just about all brands of triathlon apparel, but I am referring only to care of De Soto Products.
To prolong the life of your tri clothing:
Do not wear them in hot showers, hot Jacuzzis, steam rooms, saunas, and do not wash in hot water. Hot water and hot surfaces burns the Lycra or spandex fibers, leaving the material see-through after a short time.
Do not put them in the dryer, do not place them near a heater, and do not dry them with a hair dryer, oven, or microwave (yep I have heard it all). Suit spinners are fine, but nothing that emits heat.
Use the product! Do not store it inside a drawer buried under other garments. Have you ever pulled something you have not worn in a long time (like a swimsuit or underwear), and stretched the elastic on it to find that it stays stretched out and it no longer has “elasticity?” It has dried up and deteriorated on you from sitting in that drawer.
Chlorine will shorten the life of a garment, especially a garment that has spandex or lycra in it. Swimming pools will regularly be “super-chlorinated” (a process done to burn up the pollutants with strong oxidizing chemicals) and there will spots of excessively concentrated chlorine that will ruin garments. Do not swim in your most valued Tri Shorts as they will not last long in the pool.
And the worst, and least known destroyer of tri clothing
Do not wrap your garments in a towel and do not stuff them in your gear bag. Also keep them out of plastic bags. Bacteria starts to form within 120 minutes on any moist surface that is restricted to fresh air. The best thing to do after using a tri short or a tri suit is to rinse it immediately in cold water and let it breathe, let it get lots of air…fresh air. Let it hang on the outside of your pack, or place it in large mesh pocket that gets a lot of air.
Occasional exposure to chlorine will not ruin any of our garments, but it will shorten their lifespan. This is the case for all tri garments and all brands. Any garment that has lycra or spandex (the fiber that allows a garment to stretch) will be eventually ruined by chlorine, as there really is no such things as a completely chlorine resistant fabric. It all falls apart eventually. None of our trishorts are designed for swim workouts, but our Forza Tri Shorts appear to last the longest in chlorine over other shorts. Keep in mind though that they too will deteriorate in chlorine. Best thing is to try them out…they hold up pretty well, we just try to protect ourselves from warranty issues if people swim in chlorine.
THERE IS NO FABRIC THAT STRETCHES THAT IS TRULY CHLORINE RESISTANT. CHLORINE WILL RUIN ANY GARMENT.
I’d also mention that you should not use a TON of detergent to wash your clothes. Detergents will often “clog the pores” of the fabrics reducing their effectiveness and may irritate the skin. I suggest that folks use mild / scent free hypoallergenic detergents and let them know that a little goes a long way to preserving your clothing.
IF by clogging the pores you mean that soap stays in the fabric, then longer rinsing will take care of that. Fabric does not get so much effected by this as by what I had stated.
I have also found that mild detergents do not necessarily work better than normal detergents, in fact I have seen Woolite as well as fabric softening detergents ruin a number of triathlon garments in my 23 years in the apparel industry.
But in the end if you find these work better for you, do not change what you are doing.
Hey Emilio,
Thanks for the great, and helpful, post! I have a question though, about the dryer. Were you only talking about spandex/lycra products when you said “don’t use the dryer”? What about moisture-wicking products that aren’t stretchy? Are they safe in the dryer?
Use the product! Do not store it inside a drawer buried under other garments. Have you ever pulled something you have not worn in a long time (like a swimsuit or underwear), and stretched the elastic on it to find that it stays stretched out and it no longer has “elasticity?” It has dried up and deteriorated on you from sitting in that drawer.
ok. but a question: what is happening in the drawer that would cause this, that just wearing and the passage of time would not?
<<Thanks for the great, and helpful, post! I have a question though, about the dryer. Were you only talking about spandex/lycra products when you said “don’t use the dryer”? What about moisture-wicking products that aren’t stretchy? Are they safe in the dryer? >>
The moisture wicking products you are describing, should dry pretty fast if they are good quality, so putting in the dryer with NO HEAT ought to be enough.
Excessive or persistant heat will burn the fibers this affecting their purpose.
<<Use the product! Do not store it inside a drawer buried under other garments. Have you ever pulled something you have not worn in a long time (like a swimsuit or underwear), and stretched the elastic on it to find that it stays stretched out and it no longer has “elasticity?” It has dried up and deteriorated on you from sitting in that drawer.
ok. but a question: what is happening in the drawer that would cause this, that just wearing and the passage of time would not? >>
it is not getting enough air, circulating through it.
So for those with a fair amount of technical gear, what’s the best way to store it? Hanging it all surely isn’t practical… (at least for me)
I have seen very old pieces that I was “just keeping” turn to a weird sort of slightly sticky dust… I didn’t really know what had happened - I figured it was just the lycra dying. Can that be prevented?