5 care tips for sportswear
Today, there is special sportswear for every sport, which varies in cut and functionality depending on the discipline. But the material compositions are always the same, regardless of the sport: a mix of polyester, polyamide and elastane is usually used.
To support the durability of the products, the choice of washing program and detergent is of high importance. To ensure that the high-tech fibers do not lose any of their functionality, it is particularly important to observe the following care tips:
1. the right preparation
Sportswear should of course be turned inside out before washing. Zippers, press studs and Velcro fasteners should be closed so that their functionality is not impaired. Open Velcro fasteners can get stuck on other parts of the fabric during washing, and when they are loosened later, the structure of the fabric is damaged, which on the one hand looks unsightly, but can also sometimes lead to holes or limit the function of the material. Sportswear should be washed separately from other cotton laundry, as otherwise cotton residues can settle in the fine interstices of the functional clothing and also impair the function, especially the breathability.
2. wash after each use
Sportswear should be washed after each use. If the clothes are only slightly sweaty, hand washing in the sink is sufficient. Use a little liquid detergent in lukewarm water and rinse it very thoroughly so that no detergent residues in the fabric impair further functionality.
3. gentle wash cycle
The material blends of sportswear only tolerate a washing temperature of 30°C. If you choose 40°C or even more, for example, the textile membrane can be damaged. It is also advisable to set the washing machine to the gentle cycle for delicates or, if available, to an outdoor program. The intensity of the spin cycle is not so high in these programs and is additionally gentle on the materials. If the menu selection of the washing machine does not allow this, however, the spin speed should be reduced to about 800 revolutions.
4 Which detergent is best?
Washing with powder detergents can cause the fibers to stick together. So use liquid detergents. Conventional liquid detergents sometimes reach their limits with heavily sweaty sportswear and do not always reliably remove perspiration odor. Special detergents for functional clothing can help, for example from Perwoll. Odors are reliably removed from the high-tech fiber and the membrane functions such as breathability or wind and weather protection are retained.
The selection of these detergents available on the market is manageable: the private labels of the drugstore chains Rossmann and DM have a sports detergent in their range and, as already mentioned, Perwoll.
5. fabric softener: yes/no?
Quite clearly NO! Under no circumstances should fabric softener be used, because the surfactants of fabric softener stick together the fiber structure of sportswear. Thus, the regulation of moisture exchange is no longer guaranteed.