Revivex Down Cleaner

Gear Aid Revivex Down Cleaner is a concentrated, water-based garment wash made for down: jackets, vests, parkas, sleeping bags, quilts and down comforters. It carries no perfume, fabric softener or optical brightener, so it takes out the grime and body oil that flatten down and leaves nothing behind to weigh the clusters down. The 296 ml pouch does up to 10 jackets or 5 sleeping bags, and you can use it as a spot clean, by hand or in the machine.

What it fixes

A puffer that has gone flat and clumpy after a season of sweat, sunscreen and campfire smoke is usually not worn out. It is dirty. Oil and grime glue the down clusters together, and down that cannot loft cannot trap warm air. A wash with Revivex Down Cleaner clears that out and lets the fill spring back, so your jacket is ready for a frosty morning in the Victorian high country and your bag is warm again for the next night out. Once a season is enough for most gear.

• Down jackets, vests, parkas, coats and sweaters
• Down sleeping bags, quilts, comforters and pillows
• Down booties and slip-ons
• Down blends and water-repellent treated down such as DownTek
• The nylon shell and any synthetic insulation in the same garment

For a rain shell, a synthetic sleeping bag or a tent with no down in it, Revivex Pro Cleaner is the wash we point people to.

How to use it

Where your garment's care label gives its own washing steps, follow those. Otherwise:

In the machine

1. Do up every zip and close any hook-and-loop tabs. Work a little cleaner straight into grubby spots such as cuffs and collars.
2. Pour the cleaner into the empty machine: about 30 ml (two capfuls) for a jacket or pillow, about 60 ml (four capfuls) for a sleeping bag or comforter.
3. Put the item in and run a gentle cycle in warm water, then an extra spin to pull out as much water as you can.

Sleeping bags and other big items go in a front-loading commercial machine, the large ones at the laundromat. Revivex Down Cleaner is low-sudsing, so it suits a high-efficiency machine; because those use less water, cut the dose by about a third.

By hand

1. Fill a sink or bath with just enough warm water to cover the item, about 19 L for a jacket or about 76 L for a sleeping bag, and stir in the same dose as above.
2. Squeeze the air out of the item, push it under and knead it gently to work the dirt loose.
3. Rinse again and again until the water runs clear, then press or roll the water out rather than wringing it.
4. Finish with two spin cycles in the washing machine before drying.

Looking after it

Drying is where the loft comes back. Use a large dryer on low heat; a commercial one at the laundromat is ideal, because high heat or a small home dryer can melt a synthetic shell. Throw in a couple of clean tennis balls to break up clumps, check on it now and then, and keep going until it is completely dry. Then open it out and let it air overnight before you wear it or store it.

Once it is clean and dry, a coat of Revivex Durable Water Repellent puts the water-beading finish back on the shell.