Okay, had a Stealth jacket for a few months now, been absolutely great. This weekend after a particularly muddy ride I decide to give it it’s first wash, stick it in the washing machine on no heat, with no washing powder and it comes out looking like new, brilliant!

Unfortunately today is the first time I have taken it out in the rain and the water is no longer beading and is slowly soaking into the jacket 🙁

I rang Evans first thing (where I bought it) and they say to bring it in, and they will send it to Endura and see what they say, could take 1-2 weeks. Problem is, this is my only jacket and I need to commute to work, so what are my options?

Take it in and wait, nothing else you can do…
Reproof the thing, see if it gets back to its former glory…
or
Dig my heels in (should Evans be able to give me a like for like swap?)

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Speak to Endura direct? They’ve been really helpful with me in the past. Although they may still just say send it to them.

edit. They were pretty quick when I sent my eVent jacket to them.

Reproof the thing

you should do this regularly in any case – the proofing is ‘durable’ but not permanent.

I tend to wash mine after most rides and reproof every 3rd or 4th one.

Quick tumble dry helps too.

Did you refer to the washing instructions? There’s usually some ‘tumble dry to reactivate’ sort of nonsense on the label somewhere.

And I can’t see why you would need a replacement, it was fine until you washed it, so can’t be considered faulty.

On the label it says no tumble dry, and drip dry only out of direct sunlight.

Sounds like it’s worth reproofing though (as stupidly haven’t done this yet), so what is the consensus on proofer? Grab some of the Grangers stuff?

is the washing machine normally used with bio washing powder/liquid

if so did you run the machine empty first to rinse/clean it.

I’ ve had mine a few winters now. It did the samething after a wash, but I just reproofed it as already recommended and it was fine. Still waterproof after all this time and mine gets a lot of use in the winter. My only real issue now is its starting to look more pink than red, but I think I can pull it off 😉

Cheers for the feedback everyone, I’ll bob down to town tonight and grab some Grangers, fingers crossed!

Get some Nikwax instead David, it doesnt have to be heat activated.

I use Nikwax – it’s really noticable how the water beads after reproofing it. When I wash mine I only use detergent every 4-5 washes, then re-proof. Had mine for 2.5 years and still perfect, but remember that no softshell is designed to be fully waterproof