How To Repair Nylon Jacket Tear

How To Guides

How To Patch And Repair A Pigsty In A Down Jacket

There are a number of quick fixes for a ripped or burnt/melted downward jacket. Here'south all you need to know to salvage your trusty puffer

Nada beats a downward jacket for warmth to weight and packability. Whether you lot're climbing, hiking or backpacking, a down jacket is near e'er a useful item to have stashed in your haversack. Mod jackets are tougher than they look, largely due to the use of ripstop fabrics. Notwithstanding, down garments are still susceptible to wear and tear. After all, when it comes to kit the nifty outdoors has more than its off-white share of hazards. That might be a pigsty caused by a flight spark from a campfire, a ripped sleeve caught on a stray co-operative or a snag in the shoulder from the rogue option of an ice axe. Fortunately, with the right know-how information technology's easy to repair a down jacket.

If your down jacket has a rip or tear, yous should try to gear up it as shortly as possible to forbid that precious down from escaping. The good news is that yous can often make the necessary repairs yourself, with minimal skills and equipment – and it won't commonly require sewing.

If there's down escaping from a hole in your downwards jacket, don't pull it out! The aforementioned applies to down leaking from stitched seams. Pulling it out tends to cause the down to grade a chain as it's forced through the narrow hole (like spinning raw wool or cotton fiber into yarn). You tin can basically end up emptying the whole baffle of the jacket every bit you keep to pull. Instead, achieve behind the hole from the inside of the jacket, pinch the downwardly through the lining cloth and draw it back inside.
Furthermore, this guide will give you the know-how y'all need to make a neat and constructive repair to your down jacket. And even if your jacket has suffered major trauma, there's still no need to throw it away – scroll to the bottom for advice on specialist repair services.

Should You Try And Sew Upwardly A Torn Down Jacket?

It's generally not a skilful idea to try and run up upward a rip or a tear in a downward jacket. Due to the very lightweight face fabrics used in the construction of most down jackets, you'll need a very fine needle and thread to do the job, and even tiny needle holes can crusade surprisingly dramatic down leakage.

Down Jacket Repair: Quick Fixes

Duct Tape
For field repairs, where you just need to patch a hole quickly, the classic solution is simply to stick some tape over the rip or tear. Duct tape or gaffer tape by and large works well, as it sticks to about fabrics, and is an particular that about climbers and hikers deport in case of emergency.

If the downward fill of your jacket is escaping, try to poke it back inside the jacket. Rip off a strip of tape large enough to cover the tear and stick it carefully over the damaged area. Smooth out the tape to ensure a skilful hold.

Your repair probably won't look great, but it should at least be effective. A down jacket patched with duct tape volition also add to your 'gnarly climber' or 'rugged outdoorsman/adult female' credentials.
Note that duct tape is difficult to remove once practical. If you're considering having the jacket professionally repaired when y'all become back to civilisation (see final section), use sparingly.

Repair Tape

A more elegant set than duct tape is to use a specialist weatherproof repair tape. Practiced examples are Gorilla Articulate Repair Tape, Stormsure Tuff Record or McNett Gear Aid Tenacious Record. All are relatively inexpensive and widely available. Repair tape comes in articulate PVC as well as black or coloured nylon and ripstop nylon variants. This makes it easier to friction match to different fabrics.

Accept a pair of scissors and cut a strip of tape to size, leaving a margin of about 6mm/¼ inch around the tear. Don't forget to circular off the corners of the tape. This volition ensure a potent hold and prevent it from lifting.

Side by side, poke whatsoever stray downwards dorsum into your jacket. Smooth out the jacket around the damaged area, ensuring the confront cloth is make clean and dry. Employ the tape over the rip or tear and printing down firmly. Polish the record from inside to exterior edges.

Adhesive Patches

A tertiary pick is to purchase a pack of nylon repair patches. These are made by a number of companies including McNett Gear Aid, Kleiber, Down Jacket Repair, Prym and Dritz. They are available in a variety of colours. Near are self-adhesive, eliminating the demand to glue or heat-seal the patch.

"If y'all retrieve the damage to your jacket is only likewise severe to prepare yourself, so never fright…"

The same approach to using repair tape applies – poke any loose downwards back in (utilize the end of a teaspoon if necessary). Then select the most appropriate sized patch for your repair task and peel off the bankroll. Spread the torn surface area apartment, place the patch over the tear and printing downward firmly.

My Repair Looks Rubbish – Help!

If you've had a go and are unhappy with the results, or if you lot think the impairment to your jacket is only too severe to fix yourself, then never fear – there are still a couple of other options.

Contact The Manufacturer

Your kickoff option is to contact the jacket manufacturer to cheque whether they offer a repair service. Many volition be able to assistance – for example, UK companies Rab and Montane both offer a range of specialist repair services. Their in-house experts can deal with everything from patching holes to replacing and re-stitching entire material panels or baffles. Other brands that offer like services include Bergans of Norway, Patagonia (through their Worn Article of clothing initiative) and Alpkit. In fact, Alpkit's helpful staff in their Hathersage, Ambleside and Keswick stores tin can fifty-fifty repair your kit regardless of whether it's one of their own products.

Though using an official repair service is sometimes costly, brands are usually able to match cloth colours and types. This ways repairs are unlikely to be very noticeable or issue in a loss of garment performance.

Try A Specialist Repair Service

An alternative option is to contact a specialist contained company. Scottish Mount Gear, Lancashire Sports Repairs or Mountaineering Designs are good examples. These three companies accept a wealth of experience in repairing down products to an extremely high standard. Likewise equally fixing holes, rips and tears, they can even replace or meridian upward lost down. This will ensure your jacket continues to keep yous as warm as it should.

Yous May Also Like:

How To Repair Taped Seams On A Waterproof Jacket

How To Repair Torn Waterproofs

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