Gear Wash Sports Equipment Cleaner
Gear Wash is a highly concentrated detergent formulated to remove stubborn odors, mold, mildew and blood stains from sports gear and equipment. It is a two-part laundry product that must be added to the washer at the same time at the beginning of the wash cycle. The full instructions are:
Each box of Gear Wash contains two two-ounce bottles of product. The listed ingredients are:
Gear Wash promises to kill odor with just one wash cycle up to twelve weeks depending upon how often the gear is used each week. It offers a money-back guarantee that odor will remain at bay for at least four weeks. It is recommended that all gear be air-dried after each use before storing in your sports bag.
Gear Wash is a product of Team Clean Gear, Inc. based in Antioch, Illinois. Other products include Gear Wash Hand Sanitizer, Gear Spray and BIO 40. Products are manufactured by Artemis Bio Solutions in Elmhurst, Illinois.
Gear Wash can be purchased from their online store or Amazon.com. The cost for a 10 pound load of laundry is $9.99.
Guide Recommendation
Now that my sons are on their own, they graciously took all their stinky laundry with them. (Thanks for small blessings.) So, I enlisted one of my favorite wrestling coaches to give Gear Wash a test. His assistant coach was so helpful in preparing me for my interview of Olympic Gold Medalist Wrestler Rulon Gardner representing Wisk, that I knew these fellows could address sports gear odor.
Wrestlers don't have as much gear as hockey players, but they really sweat during practice and matches. Their singlets, knee pads, shoes and jock need a good cleaning to remove odor, stains (including blood) and bacteria that can cause serious skin conditions.
Following a weekend tournament, Coach gathered the singlets for a wash. After following the directions, he reported that the singlets came out clean and soft. Some garments were blood stained and those stains were easily removed. After drying, the singlets were soft and static free. After three weeks the odor had not returned after regular washing.
As a coach with more than 50 wrestlers, he did feel that the Gear Wash system, while easy enough to use for a single wrestler's laundry, was not effective for team laundry. The trainers do laundry in large capacity machines and always wash more than 10 pounds of laundry at a time. However, for the home laundry of sports gear, the small bottles are manageable.
October 2012 Update: Gear Wash reports that they are currently developing the product for use in a large commercial washer like those that teams use.
After reviewing the coach's notes and giving the laundry a sniff test, I can recommend that you give Gear Wash a try at home. Due to the higher cost, I would reserve it for laundering high performance sports gear and workout wear to remove stains and odor.
