We all love our Gore-Tex jackets. They are comfy and warm, and they last a long time. However, due to their high prices, we can get worried when the jackets get stained. One of the common stains with Gore-Tex jackets entails grease or oil stains. When the jacket has a grease stain, one of the common questions is how to remove grease stains from the Gore-Tex jacket.
To effectively remove grease from Gore-Tex, you must remove the stain immediately after the jacket is stained. To begin with, rub baking soda, baby powder, or cornstarch into the stain. Then, insistently rub the absorbent powder until you notice that the color is starting to change. Next, shake the powder from Gore-Tex or vacuum it. Finally, wash the jacket with a washing machine with a warm water setting.
But can old grease stains come out of the Gore-Tex jacket? And why does grease stain the jacket? If you have oil stains on your Gore-Tex jacket, this article is for you. The article describes different ways you can use to remove grease stains from your Gore-Tex jacket.
What Is Gore-Tex Jacket?
Nobody likes to get wet. So one of the ways we ensure that we are protected from rain or even light precipitation is by wearing waterproof outerwear so that even if it rains when we are outside, our bodies never come into contact with water.
Even if different waterproof materials are used to make waterproof clothes, one of the most popular waterproof clothing brands is Gore-Tex.
In simple terms, Gore-Tex is a membrane that blocks liquid water but permits vapor to pass through. That means that Gore-Tex ensures that you are dry from falling rain and also keeps you dry from any vapor generated through sweating.
Apart from being waterproof, Gore-Tex is also windproof hence the reason it’s used to make performance clothing. Even if Gore-Tex clothing are expensive, they are worth the price since they offer unique features that most of the common fabrics cannot match.
Does Grease Ruin Gore-Tex Jackets?
Grease and oil can be a crucial hazard to your Gore-Tex jacket. Once grease comes into contact with your Gore-Tex jackets, the grease molecules will be trapped inside the fibers and the pores of the jacket.
Grease can ruin Gore-Tex jackets since when the jacket’s fibers come into contact with the grease, the fibers will start drawing the grease inside the pores. As a result, the pores in the specific part of your jacket that the grease has stained will not allow air circulation in and outside the body, implying that your Gore-Tex might not be able to keep you dry from the vapor generated through sweating.
To ensure that grease does not ruin your Gore-Tex jackets, you should remove grease from the jacket immediately after your jacket has been stained. Indeed, once the grease has set in the jacket, you have to treat the stain to remove it effectively.
Does Grease Come Out Of Gore-Tex Jackets?
Grease stains can come out of the Gore-Tex jacket if correctly treated. Like other fat or oil-based stains, grease stains could leave dark discoloration on your Gore-Tex jacket that won’t come out when you wash the jacket in the washer.
Even if some commercial stain removers can work on the grease stains and remove them from your jacket, never use commercial stain removers to remove greases and other stains from your Gore-Tex jacket. The chemicals in the stain removers can end up ruining your Gore-Tex jacket.
To ensure you don’t ruin your jacket, you have to use products that are safe for the Gore-Tex fabric. Thus, what will remove grease from the Gore-Tex jacket?
As you are aware, you cannot use water to wash grease stains on your Gore-Tex jacket. However, grease is soluble in alcohol, meaning that rubbing alcohol can be used to effectively remove grease stains from your jacket.
In addition, grease also dissolves in turpentine. Nevertheless, since turpentine might ruin your Gore-Tex, you should never use it to remove oil stains.
Since regular soap is a wonderful degreaser, dish soap or washing detergent can effectively remove the stain, especially when the stain is fresh on your Gore-Tex jacket.
In particular, dish soap is specially formulated to break down oil, fat, and grease particles from dishes and utensils, and these properties will come in handy when removing grease from Gore-Tex.
If the grease residue on your Gore-Tex has solidified, you could use heat to melt the grease into liquid form and absorb it with an absorbent paper towel.
If you don’t want any elbow grease, then an absorbent powder would be your best method to remove grease from the Gore-Tex jacket. The absorbent powder will soak up the moisture and remove a lot of grease from your jacket on its own.
Once you have a grease stain on your Gore-Tex, you will most probably be required to treat the stain using one of the various methods discussed in this article so that you can effectively remove grease from the jacket.
How To Remove Grease From Gore-Tex Jacket – 7 Methods
You can eradicate grease stains from the Gore-Tex jacket by using vinegar, rubbing compound, baking soda, baby powder, cornstarch, rubbing alcohol, and laundry detergent.
The good news about these methods is that you probably have most of the products required to treat the grease stain on your jacket. Thus, you can start to treat the stain right away.
To ensure that you have a better chance of effectively getting rid of the stain, always ensure that you remove the stain as soon as the Gore-Tex clothing has been stained and the stain is yet to set in the fabric.
However, since removing the stain immediately after your jacket has been stained is not always possible, you can use any methods discussed in the article to effectively treat and eliminate grease stains on your Gore-Tex jacket.
1. Vinegar And Baking Soda
Vinegar is one of the methods to remove grease stains out of a Gore-Tex jacket without using any chemicals. It is gentle on your Gore-Tex fabric and assures you that your jacket will not be ruined during the stain removal process.
However, when using vinegar to remove grease stains, make sure that the jacket is washed immediately after the stains have been removed so that you get rid of the vinegar smell.
In addition, ensure you use white vinegar since it has no dye and will thus not stain your garment. If you use brown or red vinegar, you might have a stain similar to the vinegar color on your jacket.
1. Mix one part of white vinegar with one part of water in a washbasin. If you have a small washbasin, you can use a bucket since you must soak the stained part of your clothing in the solution.
2. Plunge the jacket in the solution of water and vinegar for at least 15 minutes. Make sure that the stained section of the jacket is fully immersed in the solution for at least 15 minutes.
3. Take the jacket out of the solution and place it on a clean flat surface. The flat surface can be a floor surface or a craft table.
4. Depending on the size of the stain, apply baking soda to the stain so that the stain will be fully covered with baking soda.
5. Using your fingers or a soft brush such as an old toothbrush, rub the baking soda into the fabric. By rubbing the baking soda into the fabric, baking soda will grind through the fabric and get out the grease that the vinegar had loosened by breaking down its molecule.
6. Rinse the jacket with warm running water.
7. Wash Gore-Tex jacket in the washing machine as usual. However, air dry your jacket so that you can check it after drying and confirm that grease stains are all removed.
8. If you can see some grease stain, repeat the process till all stains are gone.
2. Laundry Detergent
As noted earlier, you will not be able to remove dried grease stains from your Gore-Tex jacket by using a laundry detergent. However, you can treat the stain with laundry detergent before washing it in the washer.
Note that not all laundry detergents will be able to remove grease stains from your jacket. Indeed, only detergents that are either enzyme-based or have degreasing properties will be able to effectively work on the grease molecules and remove them from your jacket.
1. If you have any visible grease on your Gore-Tex jacket, use a blunt object such as a spoon or an old credit card to remove the grease lightly. Removing the grease will ensure that the stain will not spread to other parts of your jacket once you treat it.
2. Apply laundry detergent onto the grease stain. The amount of laundry detergent applied will be determined by the size of the stain. For most stains, one teaspoon of laundry detergent will be enough. You might have to apply more than one teaspoon for more prominent stains.
3. Using a soft bristle brush or even an old toothbrush, gently scrub the laundry detergent into the fibers of Gore-Tex jackets so that you end up having a lather.
4. Leave the laundry detergent to set in the jacket’s fibers for at least five minutes.
5. Wash the jacket in the washing machine as you usually do.
6. After the wash cycle is over, you should air-dry the jacket. Don’t dry the jacket in the dryer so that if there are any stains, they will not set in and become permanent.
7. Once the jacket is dry, check to confirm that all stains are gone. If you still have the stains, repeat the process.
3. Cornstarch
If you want to remove grease stains from your Gore-Tex jacket without a lot of effort, then cornstarch is the best option. The fact that cornstarch is finely grounded means that it is super absorbent.
All that you should do when using this method is to apply the cornstarch to the stain and give it enough time to work its magic on the grease stain.
1. Place the garment on a flat surface so that the stained part of the jacket is on the top of the surface. To ensure that grease does not advance to the other side of the jacket, you can place a paper towel behind the stain.
2. Apply a good amount of cornstarch to the stain. Ensure that the cornstarch you apply to the stain fully covers the stain and forms a thick layer.
3. Leave the cornstarch on top of the stain for one hour. This is when the super absorbent properties of cornstarch will absorb all the moisture and ‘pull’ out grease from the jacket.
4. After one hour, use a brush to brush off the cornstarch from the jacket. Shake the jacket well and inspect to find out whether all stains are gone.
5. If the stains are not gone, repeat the process.
4. Rubbing Alcohol
Rubbing alcohol is also known as isopropyl alcohol. You can remove grease from the Gore-Tex jacket by soaking the stained part of the jacket in rubbing alcohol. However, take note that this method requires at least a few hours. The good news is that there is minimal scrubbing.
But how will rubbing alcohol remove grease from the Gore-Tex jacket? As already stated, oil is soluble in rubbing alcohol. Thus, the fat lipids in grease will dissolve in the rubbing alcohol and remove grease from the fabric.
Even though most Gore-Tex jackets are not ruined by rubbing alcohol, you should always spot test rubbing alcohol on a small section of your jacket so that you can confirm whether rubbing alcohol will discolor your jacket or not.
1. Place the Gore-Tex jacket on a flat surface.
2. Soak a sponge with rubbing alcohol.
3. Dab the sponge soaked with rubbing alcohol onto the grease stain. Be careful as you soak the stain with rubbing alcohol since you don’t want to spread the grease to other parts of the jacket.
4. Continue soaking until the stain is thoroughly soaked with rubbing alcohol.
5. Leave rubbing alcohol soaking in the stain for at least 15 minutes.
6. Rinse the stained section of the jacket with warm running water.
7. Check and confirm that the stain has been entirely removed.
8. Wash the jacket in the washer.
If the grease stain on the jacket is bigger and stubborn, you can soak the stained part of the jacket in rubbing alcohol for 30 minutes. After half an hour, use a soft bristle brush to scrub the stain before rinsing it with warm water.
Wash the jacket in a warm water setting.
5. Dish Soap
Even though this is the most tiring out of the seven methods to get grease stain out of a Gore-Tex jacket, it is the most effective method.
The reason why dish soap is the most effective method is that dish soap has surfactants that are basically chemicals with the ability to cut down oil and fat stains and then lift them from the surface so that they are washed away.
Here is how to use dish soap to remove grease stains from a Gore-Tex jacket.
1. Pour a few droplets of dish soap on the stain. Ensure the entire grease stain has come into contact with the dish soap.
2. Using a soft bristle brush, gently scrub the soap into the stain. If you don’t have a brush, you can use your fingers to work the stain.
3. After sufficiently scrubbing the dish soap into the stain, rinse the dish soap with warm running water.
4. Air-dry the jacket and once it’s dry, check to confirm that there are no stains.
5. If you find stains on your jacket, repeat the process.
6. Baby Powder
Baby powder is used as moisture absorbent in babies and even by adults. Therefore, when you apply baby powder to the grease stain and give it time to set in the stain, the powder will absorb all the moisture and ensure that the stain is removed from the jacket.
Here is the procedure to use when removing oil stains from a Gore-Tex jacket with baby powder:
1. Lay your jacket on a flat surface so that the stain will be on the top. The flat surface and be a craft table, iron board, or a clean floor surface.
2. Spray some warm water on the stain if the stain is old and dry. If your stain is not dry, proceed to the next step.
3. Appy baby powder on the stain so that there will be a thick layer of the powder on top of the stain.
4. Leave the baby powder to set in the stain for at least 45 minutes.
5. Using a soft bristle brush, lightly scrub the baby powder into the fibers of the Gore-Tex jacket until when you notice that the powder has changed its color.
6. Give your jacket a good shake to remove the powder from the jacket.
7. Check to see whether the stains are all gone.
8. If you can’t confirm whether stains are gone, wash the jacket in a warm wash setting.
9. Air-dry your jacket, and once dry, inspect the section that had the stain to confirm whether the stains have been removed or not.
10. If you can still see some stains, repeat the process.
7. Baking Soda
Since baking soda is an alkali, it can be used to remove grease from the Gore-Tex jacket.
Here is the process to use:
1. Mix baking soda with water to create a thick paste. The thickness of the paste should be similar to the toothpaste’s thickness.
2. If the grease stain is old, you can spray it with warm water to refresh it and make it easy for baking soda to remove the stain.
3. Cover the stain with the baking soda paste you have just made.
4. Let the paste set in the stain for 2 hours.
5. After two hours, rinse the paste with warm running water.
6. Wash your Gore-Tex jacket in the washer.
7. Air-dry the jacket and confirm that the stains have been removed.
8. If you still have the stains, repeat the process.
Conclusions
Grease stains on the Gore-Tex jacket can look bad. The good news is that you can use different household products to remove grease from the jacket. To ensure that you don’t ruin your Gore-Tex garment, never use any stain removers to remove any stains on the jackets.
Most of the stains on your Gore-Tex clothing can be removed using any of the seven methods discussed in this article. Feel free to share the article with you friends who might be looking for methods to remove grease stains on their Gore-Tex jackets.
