IHJ-04 Down Jacket
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Sorry to answer before Giles and even if I am not asked directly.
Dry cleaning down jackets is not a good idea. The dry cleaning is not good for the feathers at all. It will kill their loft, their fat layer and their natural anti-bacterial properties. Down jackets (and anything else down filled) are best washed in a washing machine at 30C or less with a special liquid down detergent like Revivex. It is also not good to store them in compression/vacuum bags for a long time because it kills the loft.
There are two things you can do. Buy an impermeable spray on teflon or silicon basis. What you want to do is add some stain and water repellency to the nylon(?) outer shell. It is best to do that when the jacket is brand new. Nikwax makes good products used by the outdoor gear freaks. You can also spot clean any scruff on the collar or sleeves with a little warm soapy water and a brush (important to get the dirt out).
When you wash the whole jacket it is good to have a dryer at your disposition to fluff it up and dry it on a gentle setting. For big items like comforters it is recommended to add some tennis balls to the dryer to help in agitating the down.
If you air dry, which is entirely possible, lay the jacket flat and take care to fluff by hand every hour or so. Be prepared for it to take a long time to dry. If ironing of the outside is necessary, I would do that while the jacket and down are still a little damp and only use as much pressure as absolutely necessary.
Don't wash more than once a year. Rather hang the jacket out to aerate regularly. You want the down to be dry and well aerated.
I have some down comforters and pillows that are probably 40 years old and are still in wonderful shape having been used almost daily. Granted, those are of a quality that is rare to find these days. They were part of my mother's trousseau.
Question to Giles: What's the down vs. feather proportion on the IH jackets? Is it goose or duck down? What's the fill power and total grammage used?
Till
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Wow tfar, you have quite an extensive knowledge of down products! Thanks for that breakdown. I would have never known all that. And hectic, great question!!!
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Thanks Till for the the very comprehensive answer, here is Haraki's version:
- apply delicate detargent on damped sponge and pat on stains.
- put delicate detargent into water and soak jaket
- give it massage gently and spin dry it about 30 sec.
- put it in water to rinse and change water until the water gets clear about 2 times.
- add fabric softener into water and leave it about 3min then spin dry 30sec.
- lay the jaket on mesh table or something like that and air dry. Avoide the direct rays of the sun.
- once it drys about 80%, hang it. When the jacket is dryed, pat it all over with hands to make the filling feather even.
8 Hang it 2 to 3 more days until filling down gets dry completely.
Also, suggesting to use waterproof spray might be a good advise.
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Many thanks to you, Giles, for the quick answer on those technical questions. You know I'm a stickler for that stuff.
Haraki-Sans method is very soft and gentle and certainly will not damage the jacket or the down. However, I doubt it will get even the typical cuff grease out, let alone any tougher stains.
Brush treatment with a fine detergent for greasy cuffs is almost a must in my experience. Then throw it in the washing machine. I have done so with three down jackets and many duvets, no problem at all. Of course, pick the gentle cycle and if possible use a front loader. The last century top loader technology in the US is a joke and on top of it hard on clothes (and on the environment because it uses more water and requires bleach to even get white laundry white).
Till
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I've been loving the heat retention capabilities in the down jacket over Christmas. Build quality is typical IH, so no complaints there.
However, Giles - perhaps you could pass along to Haraki-san that I felt that the elastic shock cord in the waist hem was a little lightweight compared to the rest of the construction. The cord is a 2mm thickness, I would have preferred to see 3mm (Christ, I sound anal).
Anyway, Happy New Year everyone. My resolution is to make more biltong.
H
Aah, I love the feeling when after registering to the forum to ask a certain question you found that the answer is there in front of your eyes.
Khaki or blue… Khaki?
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Howdy,
Just for the record, I did some localised washing of the cuffs and neck of the down jacket the other day (damn my neck can't be that dirty!). I used a wool wash for hand wash detergent at <30 degrees and it came up fine. The loft also came back fine on the funnel neck area. I am confident that a hand wash of the whole jacket would be non-problematic.
Hope you are all well.
H
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I snagged one from them last night! Can't wait for it to get here!
