product care

Our Solen line is an application of our LIFA® Active fabric, combined with recycled coffee ground technology from S’Cafe. Since it is composed of primarily synthetic fabric, you wash SOLEN like you wash your other synthetic fabric base layers.

Helly Hansen’s Lifa® technology is designed to keep you dry next to your skin by transferring moisture away from the skin where it can more easily evaporate. How often you should wash your Lifa® product is based on your activities and how much sweat you produce.
Helly Hansen recommends washing your Lifa® products regularly to keep them clean and functional. We recommend liquid washing detergents for all Helly Hansen Lifa® products.

No need to panic. A couple washes with a technical cleaner will remove all the residue left behind by your standard detergent, allowing your base layer to be refreshed in its breathability and fabric integrity.

The down layer in your garment functions as thermal insulation to keep you warm. Taking good care of this layer will extend the lifetime of your Helly Hansen down garment. After a period of use, the down inside your down jacket might start to cluster and lose its puffiness (also called “loft”). This will inhibit the performance of the insulating properties of the garment. To revive the performance of the down, it is important to wash your Helly Hansen down garment. Down is a natural material, so washing down products will also help prevent the growth of bacteria and other micro-organisms.

To get the best out of your Helly Hansen Lifa® product, it is important to know the differences between the Helly Hansen Lifa® technologies. These technologies also differ in fabric content, so they should be washed according to the garment’s care labels.

HH® DRY AND HH® ACTIVE:

• Can be machine washed in lukewarm water with a mild detergent.
• Do not tumble or heat dry. Only air/hang to dry.

HH® WARM:

• Is a mix between polypropylene and merino wool. You can either wash it using the wool program in the washing machine, or you can hand wash in lukewarm water, using minimal detergent as instructed in the wool care section.
• Hang to dry.

HH® WOOL:

• Is 100% wool and it is important you follow the wool washing instructions located on the care label.
• To avoid damaging your Helly Hansen Lifa®, do not dry clean, tumble dry, or iron, and keep away from heat sources.

Our Base Layer Finder can help you determine which base layer is right for you!

It is important to wash your Helly Tech® garment. Washing your garments will remove contaminating substances such as oils, dirt, and salts from the surface and restore the surface tension of the fabric, keeping it clean and helping the membrane perform at its best.
It might not be that obvious when you should consider washing your garments, so here are a couple of signs to look for:

• If the water and/or rain droplets no longer bead off the surface of the jacket and start leaving a wet mark, the DWR (durable water repellency) might be worn off or de-activated.
• Another sign is that if the breathability does not seem to be on the same level as when you first bought your Helly Tech® garment. The membrane could be contaminated.

ALWAYS test product on small surfaces on the inside (medial side) of the shoe to make sure there’s no discoloration before applying to the entire shoe.

To clean nubuck

• One should use a brush to clean the dirt (brush off), and if needed, use specific suede/nubuck cleaning product, brush off afterwards.

For pre-treatments: 

• Leather: Grangers Leather Conditioner (conditioning plus water repellency) or Grangers Waterproofing Wax (for conditioning and wax-based waterproofing) 
• All other materials: Grangers Footwear Repel Plus

Yes, you often can! Running back-to-back cycles with a technical cleaning and deodorizing product like Nikwax can eliminate odors that have been deeply embedded in your base layers, giving you the opportunity to start feeling comfortable wearing them again. Nobody wants to wear base layers that start stinking after 2 minutes of wearing them, but there is hope!

Cotton does not have the same fabric properties and performance functionalities that synthetic or wool-based fabrics do, so they do not require any technical cleaners, and they can be washed using standard detergent. Nothing bad will happen if you use a technical cleaner on cotton garments, but nothing special will happen, either.

Wool is a natural fiber that has excellent thermal properties. Extra attention needs to be given to your wool products during the washing and drying cycles in order to keep the wool in its best condition. Wool fibers can felt (tangle) under mechanical friction, pressure, and heat when humid.

Helly Hansen recommends:

• Machine washing on a ‘wool’ program with a maximum of 40 degrees or hand wash with a maximum of 40 degrees.
• Do not rub or agitate the garment when wet.
• Do not use heat to dry your woolen products.
• To help keep the original shape of the garment, please lay the garment flat when drying. Do not twist the garment to remove excess water.

DWR is a temporary surface treatment and its performance will decrease over time and wear. A good sign that it is time to re-apply a DWR treatment is when the water and rain droplets do not bead off the jacket surface after you have washed and dried your Helly Tech® garment.

Applying a DWR is a simple process that takes place after washing your garment and before you tumble dry it.

• Take your garment out of the washing machine and hang it to let all the excess water drip off.
• Make sure that all zippers are closed.
• Spray the DWR all over the surface of the garment, on the front and back.
• After this, you can dry the garment in a tumble dryer at a medium temperature for 50 minutes.

Helly Hansen advises reading the label of the DWR products for manufacturer instructions as well as the garment care label.

Helly Hansen recommends Grangers.

As a general rule of thumb, you want to follow the instructions for the more sensitive fabric. In this case, wool is the more sensitive fabric, so you would wash your LIFA® Merino garment like you would wash a 100% Merino wool garment. Refer to the instructions provided above! In a pinch, a technical cleaner designed for synthetic fabrics may also be used without harming the garment.

Before washing your Helly Tech® garment:

• Make sure you zip up all zippers to avoid any surface damage.
• Wash your product with warm water as instructed on the care label in a commercial washing machine.
• Do not use fabric softener or other detergents that have softening agents, as it will reduce the fabric surface tension and will have a negative effect on the fabric performance.
• HH® advises to use a technical washing product and to follow the instructions given by that product. In cases where no technical washing products exist, and you only have the option of normal washing products, HH® advice to use a liquid washing product with no additives (without perfume, foam or softener). 
• A second rinse cycle with water is preferred to remove any detergents that might be left behind on the surface. It is important to remove excess detergent, as it might affect the performance of the fabric. 
• After washing, you can safely tumble dry your Helly Tech® garment in order to re-activate the DWR treatment. Please always follow the garment care label for drying instructions.

Down jackets can be washed in lukewarm water on a gentle cycle.

• It is important to set the machine on one extra rinse cycle, to ensure that all the detergent has been removed from the down feathers.
• The jacket will weigh more when wet, so please handle it with care.
• It is advised to scoop, rather than pull the garment out of the washing machine. Do not shake or twist the garment to remove the excess water at this stage. Rather press out excess water when the jacket is lying flat.

Helly Hansen also recommends washing and drying these kind of garments separate from others to avoid unnecessary friction. Doing so will give the best results. Helly Hansen does not recommend hand washing of down garments as it is very difficult to remove the washing detergent properly. Handwashing will also lead to excessive mechanical tensions on the fabric and seams.

To ensure the garment is dried evenly after washing, we suggest setting a long tumble drying program at medium temperature. You should also add two to three dryer balls into the dryer (tennis balls will also work) when the garment is being dried. This is to help gain extra loft between the down feathers. We do not recommend ironing your down jacket. This will compress the down inside the jacket and might damage the outer fabric.