Snow Skills

It’s a topic that most outdoor enthuiasts shy away from during apres events, but one most are intimately familiar with. Natural clothing materials like wool and cotton don’t retain odors, but are inferior to synthetic materials for durability and warmth when wet. Synthetic outdoor clothing lasts for years of heavy use, but after awhile begin to develop certain je ne sais qois pas odors that repeated washings don’t remove. How can you maintain your outdoor synthetic clothing so you don’t have to leave it in the woodshed at the end of a day?!

Keep your synthetic winter clothing usable by the following:

• Add Borax to your wash loads. This soap supplement improves the cleaning action and can help to remove odors. Put a cup of Borax powder into the washing machine first and then add the clothing and soap; this will help prevent powder from clumping up in the clothing.
• Use stain removers on the collars and pits. Products like Shout, Fabreeze (brand name), or a homemade Fabreeze will help to fight odors at the most likely locations. The alternate Fabreeze recipe with vodka sounds like fun!
• Liquid soap works best. Powder soap temps to clump and get caught in synthetic clothing like fleece. Note that powder soap tends not to remove waterproofing, so use it for outerwear.
• Wash your clothing often. Don’t let odors get a chance to work their way into the synthetic material.
• Hang your clothing up. Light and fresh air will help prevent odors; lumping clothing in a ball in a drawer will encourage them.