Originally Posted by
PeteHski
3 simple rules that most of the care labels clearly state anyway:-
1. Low temp wash (30 degC)
2. Air dry. No tumble drying
3. No fabric softeners
Doesn't need any more thought than that. I just chuck all my cycling gear in the wash together. Our machine has a dedicated "sports wear" cycle which takes care of it. It dries in a couple of hours when hung up. Quick drying is another feature of quality gear.
I know what the labels on the clothing says but I think they are more of a CYA because the clothing makers don’t understand their own fabric. I’ve been running a 20+ year laundering experiment on bicycle clothing. About the only time I have thrown out bicycle shorts in the last 20 years is when I tore the shorts or when some other part of the clothing failed…like stitching failing. I’ve never had to discard a pair of shorts because the Lycra wore out.
I wash
and machine dry my bicycle clothing because I don’t have enough time nor room to handwash and line dry this quantity of clothing
2015-01-24 10.24.52 by
Stuart Black, on Flickr
That’s
2 days of winter clothing.