Basically, my mother (bless her) washed my waterproof jacket after being politely asked not to. Using biological detergent and woolite? "because it's good for delicates" or something. Anyway, can't do anything about what happened, but what's the best way to recover it?

I put it through 2 rinse cycles as soon as i found out (was still wet) then a normal wash, no detergent. It's drying outside now. The way I understand it is the detergent bonds to the water repellant coating, making it not repel water. So the fabric becomes saturated and not breathable.

I know you get the re-proofers, but will they do anything to reverse the effects of the enzymes in the detergent? Should I keep washing it to remove all traces of the detergent before trying to apply new water repellant stuff?

If you get one of the Tech Washes (Nikwax or Grangers), that'll strip off the detergent. Then you need to re-proof it. Run a couple of hot/empty cycles through the machine first to get rid of any detergent in there too.

Btw – it doesn't matter if it's bio or non-bio. Detergents and breathables are a no-no.

For basic washing, just use a few soap flakes.

It depends is it event or goretex?
Event fabric is fine to wash with detergents although it will need rinsing / second wash and reproofing when necessary.
Goretex/ paramo etc is not.

No it's not one of the posh fabrics, but my last one was Goretex and got given the same treatment 🙁 I've never washed my waterproofs with detergent since then, just use soap flakes. It's interesting that the care label only warns against bio though…

I'll give the tech wash a go, and hopefully that might make my old goretex paclite breathe again, yippee.