Gear = Biohazard

[jonnythan]

Both the jacket & pants (Phoenix & Ballistic) say DO NOT MACHINE WASH

BS.

Take the pads out and toss em in a front loader.

Done. And way cheaper than the dry cleaners.

[storysunfolding]

I wonder if the chemicals from the dry cleaner would be determental to the textile?

I personally pull out the pads and put mine in the washer machine on the gentle cycle and hang dry. I try to only wash once or twice a year.

It led me to the wiki- but no clear answers. Still an interesting read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_cleaning

Dry cleaning apparently originated when a french guy noticed his table cloth was cleaner where a maid had split kerosene on it. Apparently intial dry cleaning was dropping clothes in gas or kerosene. Eventually they found something less flammable.

I'd be concerned about textiles though as the article mentions that certain plastics get degraded by the chemicals. Considering that many textiles use a type of ballistic nylon in places and many plastic zippers etc that may be an issue.

Anyway- I throw mine into the washer and hang dry them. No issues thus far and they smell like a brisk irish spring breeze