Nikwax solves a PPE problem: How can you safely clean reusable PPE gowns whilst renewing their protective qualities?

Reusable gowns are an excellent solution to the supply crisis –
but they need to be water repellent.

Professional organisations and community groups have taken the initiative and are making reusable PPE gowns to support healthcare workers. But, it is crucially important that that they are properly cleaned to renew and maintain their bodily fluid resistant qualities.

Today Nikwax are launching two new products which are designed for use by hospital and care-home laundries especially for the care of reusable PPE.

Nikwax Waterproofing leads with decades of experience in helping outdoor people to add waterproofing back to their rain jackets in a washing machine. Now they have taken their specialist technology and applied it to PPE fabrics that need to be cleaned every day.

Professional and community made gowns can be waterproofed before use with PPE Proof.Direct^®

During the Covid19 emergency, fabrics that are not already water repellent are being donated for the manufacture of gowns. Without waterproofing, they will not fully form the physical barrier to infection that they are designed to provide. 

Nikwax PPE Proof.Direct adds water repellency to clinical gowns in a washing machine. You simply run a normal washing cycle and replace the detergent with the Nikwax product.

Nikwax PPE Proof.Direct is already in use at one NHS Trust that is using it to waterproof gowns made by Aston Martin.

Reusable PPE can be washed multiple times with PPE Wash.Direct^® without losing water repellency

Normal washing detergents destroy fluid resistance and water repellency.

But, Nikwax PPE Wash.Direct can be used to clean the gowns whilst keeping them water repellent. Unlike conventional detergents, the product can clean effectively whilst maintaining waterproofing and can be used every day.

Tim Pickering, Head of Development at Nikwax, said, “We have responded to multiple enquiries that came from both the public and NHS purchasing managers. How can we keep our PPE water-repellent? It happens that is just what we have been doing for climbers, cyclists and walkers for years, so we set about solving the problem. It has been an exciting and satisfying project, and I am very happy with the result.”

Reusable PPE can be an environmentally superior alternative to the mountains of disposable items that are discarded every day. Wherever possible, single-use PPE could be replaced with products that have a longer life, which would be good for the NHS coffers as well as the planet.

For more information on Nikwax PPE Wash.Direct^® and PPE Proof.Direct^®
click here.