Sport Laundry Detergent, Odor Eliminator Technology, Laundry Soap for Workout Clothes and Everyday Use - Sport Suds 1.8Kg

In the last month, I've turned my laundry room into a laboratory for how to restore nasty-smelling "performance fabrics" back to their original (no-smell) selves and keep them stink-free. My motivation? To save money. I don't want to throw out expensive sports gear (bras, patagonia base layers, running shorts, bike shorts, etc.) just because it gets stinky. Let me cut to the chase for this product: I will be using Sport Suds for ALL my laundry. Yup, all of it: towels, dog beds, workout clothes, linens, everything. What I've learned is that other detergents and softeners created an invisible layer of buildup on my clothes that prevent the detergent from penetrating the technical fibers. If detergent can't penetrate the fibers, your clothes don't get clean. Sport Suds strips-off the build up from your clothes (and from your washing machine!) and leaves your clothes cleaner every time you wash them. And if your clothes do get stinky, just soak them in a sink of hot/warm water with a scoop of Sport Suds. [Yes, Sport Suds is a little more expensive, but it's a pretty good deal overall since I won't buy additional softeners, dryer sheets, or replacement gear.] Here's a more detailed review of my weeks spent trying to rid my clothes of their workout stank and keep them odorless. I experimented with four products: vinegar, Penguin Sport Wash, Rockin' Green's Funk Rock and Sport Suds. I bought all but the vinegar at Amazon. TO GET THE STINK OUT OF CLOTHES: VINEGAR DOES NOT WORK. I tried presoaking in vinegar. I tried washing with vinegar. I tried rinsing with vinegar. It simply didn't cut the stink. I suspect this is because many of my workout clothes get dried in the dryer over winter when it's too cold to hang them outside on the line. So the smell got baked-in. I thought I was doomed, but this is where experimentation and persistence paid off... In my experience the BEST COMBINATION to de-stink workout gear is: 1. Pre-Soak in a tub or utility sink of warm/hot water with Rockin' Green Funk Rock. (I used 1/3 C for about six bras, six running shorts, and about 10 t'shirts.) In my first trial, I soaked everything for 90 minutes, and then washed it (see step two below). **Update: You can also pre-soak with Sport Suds and you'll get the same awesome de-stink effect as Funk Rock.** 2. Wash the workout clothes on the highest recommended temperature setting with either Penguin Sport Wash or Sport Suds, and (if your washing machine has this feature), do an extra rinse at the end of the load. **If you're using Sport Suds for the first time, wash a couple loads of old towels with Sport Suds first, just to get the washing machine cleaned of any buildup. Then, wash your workout clothes that have been presoaked in Funk Rock.** 3. Hang your gear to dry. DO NOT DRY IN THE DRYER. Drying bakes in any smells and worse, ruins the integrity of your technical gear. (Note: some jackets or clothes with DWR must be dried to restore the rain and wind resistant properties; read the care tag.) Note: After the first trial, there were still some items that stunk after they were line-dried. I soaked them in Funk Rock again for an entire night, then washed them. This did the trick. All my clothes eventually came out stink-free. And here's how I've kept my workout clothes stink-free since getting them clean: * Do not store sweaty clothes in a gym bag. Ideally, wash them immediately. Another option: turn them inside-out and let them dry (on hangers) before throwing them in the laundry hamper. (I put my sweaty clothes on hangers after morning basketball and hang them in the car with the windows open while I'm at work.) * (optional) Put dry-but-dirty workout clothes in a mesh hamper until you can launder them. * Use a clean washing machine. This is another reason to use only Sports Suds: it works and it keeps the buildup out of my washing machine and off all my items * Never use liquid fabric softener in the washing machine * Never dry workout clothes in the dryer and avoid dryer sheets * When they do get a little funky, I'll simply follow steps #1-3 above... GOOD LUCK!

I am actually Nancy's husband and this purchase was for me. So, I get to write the review, yeah! We have one of those new front loader HE washing machines. It has previously performed flawlessly. However, I took up running this past year. I know, what does this have to do with anything, just wait. In this process of taking up running, much to my wife’s chagrin, I acquired several clothing items made with the tech fabrics. While these performed well during exercise, I started to notice that frankly, I had an odor about me while wearing them. No, I simply stunk. No matter that the shirts or shorts were just washed, when a sniff test was performed, they failed. Now, this was not really a problem for me as I run alone and it don’t really bother anyone. Well, eventually I ran my first marathon (in Honolulu with over 20,000 of my best friends). Man did I have an odor as the race progressed. After the race, I wondered if everyone else thought I smelled as bad as I thought I did (they did). To compound what to me was a slightly unacceptable condition, I recently convinced my wife to join me in exercising, running stadium steps once a week (crazy huh?). I did this by assuring her we could stop and get some dinner afterwards. Now, the stink was definitely a problem that had to be dealt with. So, let me say, I didn’t really want to doubt my wife’s abilities at using our washing machine lest I be tasked with washing all my own clothes. In reality I tried sneaking my wash in by myself with no difference. Eventually, I gingerly broached the subject with her. She confirmed that: 1. Yes, I stunk 2. No, the neighbor’s cat was not using my running clothing as kitty litter 3. Yes, she does know how to wash clothes 3. And finally, most importantly, yes, I needed to do something about this So, to the internet I went in search of an answer. Turns out, the best properties of technical clothing are what actually create this issue. Who knew? Also, as it turns out, I was not alone in my quest for clean smelling exercise gear. There were a few suggestions/methods to rid myself of this stink. These included using vinegar in various stages of the wash, showering in the clothing immediately after exercise (thought I might get really strange looks and possibly be put away for this) then hanging them to dry, using baking soda on the offending zones and in the wash, and using the proper detergent, among others. I decided to try the vinegar first with some reasonable results. Next, I decided to jump right to finding the proper detergent. Notice I skipped right over showering in my clothing… After reading all the glowing reviews, I decided to give SportSuds shot. In the interest of total honesty, I didn’t follow the recommendations on using two scoops to clean the washer prior to use (I thought that was just wasteful and didn't have the patience for it). I just jumped right in and did some loads. Not wanting to waste a good wash, I threw other stuff in with my technical clothes when I did a load to have a full load. This provides the added benefit of having other items clean and fresh. I did set the soak cycle to permit the clothes to steep in the detergent. I also ended up using just shy of one scoop per load if there were just technical material clothing (turns out less is more wrt detergent and technical clothes). So, what were the results you may ask. You are asking, right? Turns out this stuff is all it claims to be. Even my most malodorous clothing eventually came clean. Although the worst of items required a few washes to come clean, they were noticeably less stinky after the first wash. Some may balk at the price. I say, REALLY don’t. Technical clothes are expensive and good friends and good companions are hard to come by. Do them all a favor and at least smell good when you are exercising with them.

I was looking for a laundry detergent for ‘active wear’ or ‘technical fabrics’ specifically items coated or to be coated with a DWR (basically things like underarmor athletic fabrics, microfibers, clothing with DWR coatings - they are sensitive to dirt & residues, gortex, and also primarily important for me: items with breathable water repellant membranes. These are often used in active-wear jackets, like ski equipment, and are assigned two ‘K’ values which represent how much water pressure they can resist and how easily water vapor can pass through. The values range from 0-20 and are shown as either 15K/10k or just 10k meaning in both directions. These membranes are very sensitive and can easily be dissolved by laundry detergents and are basically the ‘magic sauce’ in active wear. They stop wind, keep water out and keep you dry when you start sweating. Often they are combined with a DWR coating so water rolls off and the exterior/interior fabrics still play a huge role as they dictate how well the item retains heat & are the ‘first line of defense’ before getting to the membrane). Most of the detergents I had found were pretty specific and marketed towards that niche market, such as GearAid and as far as I can tell they work pretty well. However, given those facts the end result is that they are also pretty expensive. So you end up having to ration them out and, if you’re trying to be economical, may wait to wash items until you have enough for a specific load. After much research I found sportsuds. Based on everything I could find I saw no reason as to why it wouldn’t work on these technical fabrics (it’s a non-detergent detergent, 99% sure as their site doesn’t say it anymore, unscented & residue free which is needed for DWR prep, can/does fully dissolve in cold and minimal amounts of water and the surfactants are biodegradable - the stuff that does all the cleaning in non-detergent cleaners, it basically makes things dissolve into water). The reviews I saw a couple years back said only positive things, infact lots of people even claimed that the less that was used the better the outcome for things like football gear for kids and the like - people sung its praises for how well the stink was removed (I don’t know about how well it works on stains as I usually pre-treat stains and thus have had zero issues so far - I work on cars a lot and have spilled motor oil all over a pair of board shorts. I applied some oxyclean stain gel, waited 15 min, then put them in the wash with some Sport Suds and out came totally clean board shorts!). It is also residue free which is great since my biggest gripe with powdered detergents is that I have often experienced residual detergent on my clothes (granted this was when I was younger and would put the detergent on top once I knew how big the load was, but I have done the same with Sport Suds with no residual detergent remaining). I don’t have the keenest sense of smell so I can’t comment as to whether even less than is recommended should be used, but if you do your own research you can figure that bit out. Either way the ‘scoop size’ is super small compared to other powered detergents. In addition Sport Suds recommends using their detergent to clean your washing machine by loading it up with some older towels & adding two full sized scoops. After trying this I can say that it actually works! It does a great job getting rid of any lingering smell and gunk under the drum left behind by other detergents. All of this basically adds up to a ‘wonder soap’! I use it for my more delicate items, hand wash only items, technical clothing, cleaning out the washing machine, DWR prep & when I’m traveling I bring a scoop or two with me in case I want to wash some clothes rather than having to pack more (as it’s easy to wash out it makes hand washing fairly simple. This way I can make it two weeks using just a carry on bag). The price is a little high, but you do get a LOT of uses out of the big box (I highly recommend spending the extra $30 or so, it’s significantly more detergent & lasts you quite a while). This is a definite recommend!

I do hot power yoga every day & I have a very sensitive sense of smell. Tough combo. I use this for my towels & wet clothes every 2-3 days and I also use it intermittently/weekly for bedding & other clothes. It is good but not great when used as recommended. It might work better if you always wash your clothes immediately after sweating in them but that would be inefficient. It's so much better than my regular earth friendly laundry soap (seventh generation) & I honestly haven't found anything better. Clothes smell, feel & look cleaner. Not sure how it would compare to a more chemical-commercial laundry soap like Tide. I love that it's fragrance free. I have sensitive skin & this is great for sensitive skin. But - and here's the bad news - you'll still have to wash your super smelly clothes 2-3 times when you first use this or when you let things sit for 2-3 days. And, they say you can use cold water but you'll get better results using warm water and you'll need to use 2x or 3x the recommended amount of Sport Suds. That makes it 2-3x more expensive per use than you expect & it's silly/misleading that they say you can get so many washings with one tub. It's pretty pricey especially when you consider that you get fewer washings. But it does work well as long as you double up on the amount, wash often & use warm water!

I've wasted too much money on miracle cleaning products over the years, and a bag of this stuff wasn't cheap, but I finally took the plunge when a couple of my technical fabric shirts got overpoweringly smelly. You can't exercise outdoors in southern Florida without getting stinky, but my shirts had gotten to the point where they would start to smell twenty minutes into the workout, and after an hour and a half I wanted to jump out of the kayak and swim home to get away from the smell. I washed the shirts, but the smell lingered. Faced with the prospect of having to replace a lot of technical fabric shirts, I looked for a solution and found this stuff based on a review from the NY Times Wirecutter. The consistently (although not universally) positive Amazon reviews convinced me to give it a try, despite the price. After one wash with this powder, the shirts smell better than they have in ages. I also threw in some microfiber dish towels that had developed a wash-resistant smell, and they came out smelling fresh. The powder doesn't have a fragrance -- it's not just masking the odor. From what the label says, it sounds like this powder works mostly by getting rid of residue that builds up in fabrics over time, taking the nasty smell along with it. At about fifty cents a load, it turns out to be a good value. I'll probably still wash my technical fabric gear with regular loads and regular detergent most of the time, and will do a separate load with this powder as needed when the gear starts to retain odors. If that's once a month or so, this bag will last me a few years. Good stuff. A miracle cleaning product that works.

My son plays hockey and his gear is some of the stinkiest around. I throw them in the wash with a little Sport Suds and they come out with no smell. Just clean and ready to go. I have purchased this over and over again because it works so good and has no scent. I would encourage anyone looking for a detergent to clean their workout clothes or sports gear to try this.

It’s amazing, a bag lasts forever, and leaves no residue like liquid detergents do. It’s free of enzymes, so it’s actually safe for anyone with mold allergies (enzymes are derived from mold). Our bedding, clothes and towels feel insanely clean when we use SportSuds - no greasiness, no perfumes. I love this product so much and 10/10 recommend!

Used this product on my spandex/polester/elastic blends of gym clothes, unisuits and cycling bibs. It was unscented. It didn't lead to a build up or body odor funk (the kind that returns upon sweating during your next workout) which im very familiar with and did leave my work out clothes without smell. However it's hard to tell if it was the detergent or my change in laundry habits (washing same day of use, using the soak function extra which allows proper wetting of synthetic fabrics), etc. Due to its price and comparing its ingredients I get similar performance from Molly suds unscented super powder with enzymes.