How to properly wash and dry a down jacket?

When it comes to lightweight natural warmth, down is the best. But like some other natural insulation materials, it needs a bit of extra care to ensure it stays in perfect condition and doesn’t lose any of its great warming qualities. Either way, buying a down jacket is a considerable investment, so you really have to be careful when washing this popular winter garment. Always read the instructions on the care tag: some manufacturers only recommend a hand wash, while others advise machine washing at low temperatures.

Washing

1. Do not wash several garments at once. During the wash, the down jacket will swell and take up most of the space in the washing machine drum.
2. Do not use a conventional powder detergent. Wash the down jacket with a liquid detergent intended for sensitive laundry.
3. Before washing a down jacket in a washing machine, place a tennis ball into the drum. It will prevent the down from sticking together during the wash.
4. Wash the down jacket with the down program or sensitive laundry program, as both also set the spin cycle to a lower spinning rate. The sensitive laundry program may differ from one washing machine to the next, so always choose one where water temperature does not exceed 30 or 40 °C.
5. Do not wash too often and avoid spinning. Wash the down jacket no more than once or twice a year.

Drying

1. If you intend to air dry your down jacket, wait for a windy day. Plan ahead and check the weather forecast as the wind will make the drying process faster and easier. If the weather forecast isn’t in your favour, you can dry the jacket over a radiator to make sure it doesn’t dry too long.
2. Shake the winter jacket before drying it. You can dry it on a clothes line or on a laundry drying rack, just make sure you shake it out to evenly distribute the feathers. Hold the jacket by the collar and shake it; then, hold the bottom end of the jacket to shake it while upside down. While the jacket dries, shake and turn it several times to distribute the down more evenly and to make sure it dries thoroughly.
3. Note any lumps of feathers. A down jacket takes a lot of time to dry – sometimes several days – if you dry it when the weather is cold and humid without wind. As long as there are lumps of feathers, the jacket is still damp on the inside.
4. Most down jacket manufacturers recommend tumble drying. As a result, there are several tumble dryers available in the market, which feature a preset program for down garments. If your washing machine doesn’t have such a program, chose a program with a low drying temperature. Fast drying with a high temperature will only dry the jacket on the outside, while it will remain damp on the inside. Don’t forget to add a tennis ball into the tumble dryer drum, just like with washing.
5. If you are not happy with the way the feathers are distributed once the down jacket is completely dry, use the spin cycle at the lowest setting. This may help with feather lumps; however, make this a last-resort solution.