After multiple seasons of adventuring, your sleeping bag or quilt may start looking a little worse for wear. Although you may love that coffee stain that sorta looks like a poorly-drawn bear or the musty smell of campfire and morning dew, cleaning your sleeping is extremely important. Dirt, grime and oils on the surface of your bag will slowly work into the fill of your bag, causing it to lose loft and warmth. Cleaning your bag is easy, but lightweight face fabrics and sensitive synthetic or down fill can get damaged if they are cleaned improperly. In order to keep your sleeping bag performing at it’s best, we’ve laid out how to wash a sleeping bag or quilt with these simple steps. 

How to Wash a Sleeping Bag - The Basics

While washing your bag is important, over-washing your sleeping bag can damage the performance if you do it too often. A good rule of thumb is to wash your consistently-used bag once a year, or when you notice it's lost loft and warmth. The next consideration is just how you are going to wash the bag. While you can send your bag or quilt out to be cleaned, our recommendation is the easiest and the least expensive option: wash it yourself. 

What You Need

The Washer 

The most important things you need are large or commercial size washer and dryer. If you don't have them at home, most laundromats have them. You need a front-loader because a top loader's twisting agitator can do some serious damage to your bag.

Skip hand-washing unless you have to. The process is laborious, you're bound to get a better rinse with a machine wash, and the spin cycle will dramatically speed the drying process without damaging your bag. 

Soap

The next thing thing you'll need is a proper cleaning product. We recommend Nikwax Down Wash Direct for down and Hydrophobic Down, and TX Direct for synthetic bags. These cleaners are specifically engineered for technical gear, rinsing out thoroughly and leaving no residues that can hamper down loft or performance of technical fabrics. If you have a bag with Hydrophobic Down, you can also run a second wash cycle with Down Proof to get maximum rejuvenation of its water repellant properties.  While specially formulated for Hydrophobic Down, it will boost the performance of any down fiil. 

The Dryer

Here, a front-loading commercial dryer is essential. Size matters, because the drum of the dryer must be able to accommodate your bag as it dries and expands. If the drum is not large enough, it can stop tumbling as it fills the entire dryer and develop hot spots, melting the shell material and/or filling.  For down, we also recommend getting 2-4 (new) tennis or dryer balls. Tossing these in will keep the down in the bag from clumping together and aid in drying out the bag or quilt.

The Process

 Aside from the soap, the process is virtually the same for each type of bag. 

Wash

DO NOT dry clean. DO NOT bleach. DO NOT iron. Do NOT use a top-loading machine.

Machine wash in a large capacity, front loading washing machine (or hand wash), using as much soap as is indicated on the bottle. Select cold water and a gentle/delicate cycle with two rinses. We recommend an additional spin cycle to extract as much water as possible before drying.

Drying

While hang-drying is the most gentle way to dry your bag, a large, front load dryer should be used to get the bag mostly dry before any mold or mildew has a chance to grow in the fill.

Start on a medium heat for 30 minutes, checking your bag often to make sure it's not getting too hot, and adjust as needed. Times will vary, but you're probably looking at 3-4 30-min cycles on medium or medium high, depending on the dryer.

As your bag gets drier, it will begin to loft and can actually fill the dryer chamber, preventing it from tumbling, so check it often for overheating and visually inspect to make sure it's tumbling. Between cycles, pull it completely out and re-stuff into the dryer to speed drying. Once a bag is nearly dry, lower the heat setting to low or even "Air Only" to be safe on the last cycle. With a down bag, feel for clumps of wet down and either shake the bag gently or hand-tease the clumps apart to redistribute down. Throwing in 3-5 tennis balls during the last cycle or two can help agitate the bag, breaking up those wet down clusters to speed dry times. 

Once you're fairly certain the bag is dry, store it in well-ventilated, low-humidity environment for a day or two, just to be sure. Hand-tease or shake out your bag gently to break-up down clumps, and flip it often to help speed the process.  Hanging it outside on a clothesline for half a day and flipping it often will assure any remaining moisture is gone before storing. If you hang it inside, a fan or a dehumidifier can help speed the process.

Storing Your Sleeping Bag or Camping Quilt

The less time your sleeping bag is compressed, the longer it will serve you by maintaining the loft necessary to keep you warm. Store your sleeping bag loose, in a cool, dry place. If you must store it in a bag, use the extended storage sack it came in, or something even larger. Never use a waterproof bag for long-term storage. Also keep your bag out of hot attics and be extra wary of basements and other areas that might have high humidity. Even that little but of extra moisture can allow mold and mildew to take hold, and that's a one-way street to a stinky bag. 

Related Posts:

• How to Store Sleeping Pads and Bags
• How to Take Care of Sleeping Bags
• The Ultimate Guide to Sleeping Bags & Quilts

Updated. Originally Published October 16, 2019.