I'm in the market for a new winter jacket for commuting. I absolutely want it in yellow. My major bug bear with my current Altura Aspen (which is actually a mans jacket) is that you can't machine wash it - I get sprayed with all sorts of muck off the road on my daily commute and handwashing just doesn't it clean any more.

Is that the same for the Altura Nevis jacket, or can it be machine washed?

Thanks for any help with this as I am desperate for a new jacket!

Hi Karen

I think you'll find that all the new Altura jackets are machine washable. I brought hubby a Phase jacket and that is m/c washable. I'm almost 100% sure that the Nevis is machine washable too.

I stick all my stuff in the machine - I just choose a gentle wash and use proper soap flakes - I've had no disasters so far!

ok, thank-you!

I use the Nikwax Tech wash (detergent substitute for waterproof kit, doesn't destroy the proofing), and stick it all in on 30. I've washed the bf's Altura Nevis jacket that way and no complaints. You can get the Nikwax range from outdoor shops, Decathlon etc. After a few washes the proofing does start to wear off (as I found out with my walking jacket in a downpour! It's probably had about 10-12 washes between reproofings though), but you can then reproof it with a wash-in reproofer from the range - again in the machine.

You shouldn't use ordinary detergent on waterproof/resistant kit, as it removes the proofing, but pure soap flakes are fine, as Radders says, and the tech wash is effectively just pure soap with a little reproofing agent added.

Well, it's orange but the Howies cross jacket is machine washable. And I've worn mine out in a lot of rain, wash it with normal washing liquid (good advice about the soap flakes though), and haven't noticed any difference in the water repellingness.

As above, it's not the machine washing but the detergent which damages jackets. Theoretically manufacturers advise that you run the machine through a cycle without anything in it before washing a jacket with specialist product to remove any residual traces of detergent, but that's a pain in the arse and you can bet that whoever made that reccomendation wasn't female... ;o)

(Someone else's very expensive) Assos clothing cleaner is the best thing found so for removing road grime, Techwash doesn't do much at all for tar and diesel splatter.