Not only has the ‘soft shell’ concept – think water resistant
rather than waterproof – proved a tad confusing, but knowing how to
restore water repellancy to the numerous ‘soft shell’ fabrics now out
there has also been a bit of a brain bender…

But maybe not any more with Nikwax Waterproofing releasing a new
product descriptively titled ‘Nikwax SoftShell Proof’. No prizes for
guessing that it’s a wash-in proofer intended for soft shell fabrics
then.

The company says that it’s been tested on Windstopper, Schoeller,
Polartec and Windbloc fabrics and laboratory tests show that treating
the fabrics with the new product after first washing with TechWash
‘significantly increased water repellancy without compromising
breathability’.

No heat required…

Interestingly, the proofer doesn’t need heat treatment to activate
it making it suitable for fabrics which can’t be ironed or
tumble-dried.

A couple of other interesting points. One was that normal
detergent reduced the water reistance of Schoeller fabrics by
compromising the factory-applied DWR, the application of SoftShell
Proof apparently restored the water-repellancy to levels equal or
greater than the original factory proofing.

Second, although Gore’s Windstopper fabrics generally aren’t
treated with DWR, water repellancy can be added with SoftShell proof
treatment. By contrast, because the garments aren’t suitable for
ironing or tumble-drying, fluorocarbon based water repellency
treatments which require heat activation can’t be used.

More Nikwax information on their web
site. Details of price and availability as soon as we have them.

Thanks to our sister site OUTDOORSmagic for bunging us this story.