How often do you wash your outdoors clothes?

Erbswurst

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 5, 2018
4,079
1,774
Berlin
Pinewood trousers also come with long legs, are also overpriced but not as much as FR.
Uniforms also come in a lot of different sizes.

But doesn't matter, you should wear what fits you of course. I just wouldn't make a science out of waxing plastic trousers, and FR trousers are mainly made of plastic. Such a fabric will dry very fast anyway.
 

Kadushu

If Carlsberg made grumpy people...
Jul 29, 2014
944
1,024
Kent
@Erbswurst & @Kadushu
Whilst you both may get a little joy from knocking FR, as someone who is 6'6"~2m tall, I require leg length which is impossible to find in most other clothes, the cut and the style and the comfort from the trousers makes them totally worthwhile for me. Now if I was sub 6ft, or even sub 6'6" I'd settle for clothing that was a lot easier to come by....
Each to their own. I'm guilty of blowing money on plenty of other kit!
 

SaraR

Full Member
Mar 25, 2017
1,651
1,209
Ceredigion
I don't wax my Fjällräven trousers, although at times I've been tempted to do just the bottom parts of the legs when spending a lot of time going through soggy areas. I find they keep off the rain well enough as is and since they are quite warm, I prefer having all the breathability I can get with them.

If you do want to wax them, I suggest just doing the areas you really feel you need done, be that knees, front thighs, bum or whatever.
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
39,133
4,810
S. Lanarkshire
When I was young...... a loooong time ago :) our jeans were flared, and we all know how much cotton soaks up the wet.
But we weren't daft, even back then. We had a spray that we used on the bottoms of our flares that stopped the water soaking into the fabric. Great for footwear, bags and hoods too.

There surely has to be something similar still available. It didn't stain the fabric, it didn't discolour it, it just stopped it soaking up water. I think it must have been very like fabsil.

I know that when digging or fieldwalking I did use fabsil on the hem to knees of my trousers and those were polycotton. It worked fine, but then those were working clothes and I didn't mind if there was any obvious marking from the fabsil.

Nikwax do a whole range of good stuff for clothing. Might be worth a looksee.

M
 

Pattree

Full Member
Jul 19, 2023
2,118
1,140
77
UK
When large apex predators are observed fleeing their scent marked territories I wash.
I tend to need to wash trousers when they don’t flee.

Someone up there ^^^^^^ said “define wash”. I don’t have big brand name stuff but my waterproof jackets, salopettes, gaiters etc get a wipe down as and when. I used to buy expensive trousers but now wear nine pocket Caribous everywhere, all the time whatever I’m doing. They go into the weekly wash or when I get back - sometimes before I’m allowed indoors. Afters a few washes they lose their water resistance. Fabsil on the older ones, which I’ve relegated to division two, works fine even though clothing does not appear in the list of applications on the can.

Base layers get washed on return. I’m rarely away for more than two weeks.
Wool gets light hand wash.
Everything else gets a low temperature economy wash.

Sleeping bags now - liners as above but the bag - that’s a different problem.
 

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