Four rules, and one that matters most
How to wash team kit so it survives the season
2 minute read
Kit is rarely worn out. It is usually laundered out, in a machine on a setting chosen by somebody who was not thinking about polyester. The rules are short and the first one does most of the work.
The rules
No tumble dryer
This is the one that matters. Heat is what degrades polyester and what lifts anything pressed onto it. Line drying costs nothing and roughly doubles the useful life of a kit.
Cold wash, inside out
Cold protects the fibre and the colour. Inside out protects the printed surface from the abrasion of everything else in the drum.
No fabric softener
Softener coats the fibre and blocks the wicking that the fabric was chosen for. A kit that stops moving sweat has usually been softened, not worn out.
Wash soon, not eventually
Sweat is mildly acidic and left in the fabric it does real damage over a season. A rinse the same evening is better than a hot wash three days later.
What to tell a squad
Give players one sentence rather than four rules: cold, inside out, hang it up. Programs that print that on the kit bag get noticeably better compliance than programs that email a care sheet nobody opens.
For teams with a shared laundry arrangement, agree the setting once with whoever runs the machine. A single hot cycle can undo a season of care, and it is almost always somebody helping rather than somebody careless.
What each rule is actually protecting
Four rules, and the specific thing each one saves. Knowing the mechanism is what makes them stick.
- No tumble dryer
- Protects the fibre and anything applied to it. Heat is what degrades polyester and what breaks a vinyl adhesive bond — this single rule roughly doubles a kit’s useful life.
- Cold wash
- Protects colour and elastane. Hot water accelerates both dye loss and the loss of stretch that makes compression work.
- Inside out
- Protects the printed surface from the abrasion of zips, studs and everything else in the drum.
- No fabric softener
- Protects the wicking. Softener coats the fibre, and a performance fabric that stops moving sweat has usually been softened rather than worn out.
- Wash soon
- Protects the fabric from its own sweat, which is mildly acidic and does real damage over a season if left in.
- Cool iron, never over a print
- Protects anything applied. An iron is a heat press with no temperature control.
Getting a squad to actually do it
A care sheet emailed to eighteen families is read by none of them, and that is not a criticism — it arrives among twelve other emails in the first week of a season. The programs whose kit lasts three years are not the ones with better instructions; they are the ones with shorter ones.
One sentence works: cold, inside out, hang it up. Printed on the kit bag it reaches everybody who handles the garment, including the parent doing the washing, who never saw the email in the first place.
Where a program has shared laundry, agree the setting once with whoever runs the machine. A single hot cycle undoes a season of care, and it is nearly always somebody trying to help rather than somebody careless.
And where a garment is genuinely reaching the end, replace it rather than nursing it — a kit that looks tired is a kit a squad stops taking seriously, which is the argument for ordering spares up front made on our page about adding to a kit you already own.
Stains, in the order they respond
Four common ones and the specific mistake that sets each permanently.
Grass
Cold soak with an enzyme detergent, then a normal cold wash. Hot water sets the protein and the stain together, which is why the instinct to use it is exactly wrong.
Blood
Cold water immediately, and only cold. Warm water cooks it into the fibre and it stops being removable.
Mud
Let it dry completely, brush off what comes away, then wash. Rubbing wet mud works it in.
Sweat marks on white
Usually not a stain but residue from detergent or softener. Run a wash with no detergent at all before trying anything stronger.
Follow-up questions
Can kit be ironed?
On a cool setting and never directly over a print. If a garment needs pressing, put a cloth between the iron and the fabric.
How do we get grass stains out?
Cold soak with an enzyme detergent, then a normal cold wash. Not hot water — heat sets protein and grass stains together.
Will washing fade a sublimated kit?
Barely, because the colour is the fibre. What fades a sublimated kit is heat and sunlight over years, not detergent.
Is dry cleaning safe?
It is unnecessary and the solvents are harsher than a cold wash. There is nothing in a performance kit that needs it.
Can kit go in a tumble dryer on low?
Better not to. Low is still heat, and heat is the single thing that shortens a performance garment's life fastest. Hanging it costs nothing and roughly doubles that life.
Does washing fade a sublimated kit?
Barely, because the colour is the fibre. What fades it is heat and sunlight over years, not detergent.
Is dry cleaning safe?
It is unnecessary and the solvents are harsher than a cold wash. There is nothing in a performance kit that needs it.
How should compression wear be washed?
Cold, and never in a dryer. Heat destroys elastane, and a base layer that has lost its stretch has lost the reason it was bought.
Can we wash the whole kit together?
Yes, cold and inside out. The thing to keep separate is anything with a zip or a stud, which abrades whatever it tumbles against.
What about odour that will not wash out?
Usually detergent or softener residue holding bacteria in the fibre. Run one wash with no detergent at all, then return to a normal cold wash with less of it than feels right.