How to check if a used rain jacket is still waterproof
Okay so here's the thing nobody tells you. A rain jacket can look brand new and still leak like a sieve. We've had jackets come in looking perfect that soaked through in two minutes. And we've had ugly beat-up ones that were bone dry inside.
So you can't tell by looking. You have to test it. Takes ten minutes.
Flick water on it
Just wet your fingers and flick. Watch what the water does.
If it sits there in little round beads and rolls off, good sign. If the fabric goes dark and drinks it in, the coating on the outside is gone.
Don't panic if it fails this one. It's the easiest thing to fix. Wash it with a proper waterproof-gear cleaner, then put it in the dryer on low for 20 minutes. Heat wakes the coating back up. Still not beading? Get a reproofing spray. Sorted.
Turn it inside out and look at the seams
Every seam should have a strip of tape over it, stuck down flat. Check the shoulders and the hood first because that's where rain hits hardest.
A bit of tape lifting at one corner, fine, you can glue that. Tape peeling off all over the place? That jacket is tired. Pass.
Rub the inside
This is the big one. Rub the lining around the neck and shoulders with your thumb.
If white flaky bits come off, or it feels sticky, the waterproof layer itself is falling apart. There is no fixing this. We don't care how good the brand is or how cheap it's going. Walk away.
The shower test
Feels silly, works every time. Put on a light coloured t-shirt, zip the jacket all the way up, hood on, and stand under the shower for five minutes.
Take it off. Any dark patches on your t-shirt are exactly where it leaks.
That's it
Four checks. If a jacket passes all of them it will keep you dry, doesn't matter if it's ten years old.
We run these on the waterproof pieces before they go up on the site. If one needed its coating brought back to life, we'll say so in the listing. Got a jacket you're not sure about? Message us on WhatsApp with a photo of the inside and we'll tell you what we think.