I routinely wash my body armour but the actual padded bits are starting to develop a certain fragrance of their own 😐

My guess is that they have become impregnated with my weapons-grade perspiration and need a weapons-grade cleanup. Any ideas how to get them fresh again without ruining them?

Cheers

washing machine, inside a pillowcase or quilt cover ?

I wash mine in the bath with some clothes washing powder and really hot water. Swill it all around loads, leave overnight and then rinse in the morning.

Takes a couple of days to dry but always smells alright after.

Washing machine. The mesh bag they cam in prevents the velcro bobbling your other clothes.

I soaked mine in a warm dettol solution! Did the job.

Trying some of the Muc Off foam fresh stuff. Only just applied it to some road shoes that have developed a pungent pong after getting caught in a downpour. Smelling ok so far.

Hot wash in the washing machine, put your shoes and camelback in there aswell. Its leaving the the salty sweat that rots them.

If you don’t want to put them through the washing machine you can buy some antibacterial Vanish granules. Think it was Vanish Hygiene or something that I got. You just make up a solution with warm water and soak the clothes/armour/whatever for an hour. Worked a treat on some base layers I had that got proper manky.

OK thanks folks.

They routinely get bunged in the washer but the 30 degree wash doesn’t seem to have much effect will crank it up and see what happens

Cheers

Get some halo sports wash (available from a few places but wiggle is normally a pretty good price) gets rid of all nasty niffs and no need to use a particularly high temperature. All my stuff goes on at 30 degrees and hasn’t had any stink issues since I started using it.

I give stuff a soaking in Milton fluid every now and then – base layers, shorts etc – especially if its been left in a plastic bag for a few days after a 12 hour stint under a sumo suit!

Gets rid of any nasty bacteria and leaves you smelling swimming-pool fresh!

Hydrogen peroxide, you can get it on ebay. Put one of those detergent balls full of it in your washing machine, and wash as normal.