WAXED COTTON: SCOTTISH HERITAGE
DEVELOPED BY SAILORS
The concept of waxed cotton was originally developed in the early 15th century by Scottish herring fishermen - both our suppliers of waxed cotton; Halley Stevenson’s of Scotland (est. 1864) and British Millerain of England (est. 1880), have pioneered the modern development of the traditional material.
The beauty of waxed cotton is in both its durability and longevity, as well as its surprising breathability – with the wax proofing adjusting to ambient temperature, maximizing comfort for the wearer. Its coating can be maintained by the end user by re-applying wax to the surface, keeping the material soft, supple, and weather-resistant.
Our New Length: the '3incher'
RE-WAXING GUIDE
If your shorts need a wash (gentle machine wash at 30°C, then air dry), follow the instructions below to re-wax your cleaned Field Shorts:
1. Clean all dirt and debris from garment. If your garment is dry but still has some unwanted dirt on it, a stiff nylon-bristled brush works well to remove the debris. Moisten a clean cloth or sponge in cold water and wipe your garment. Do not use soap or any type of detergent.
2. Lay clean garment on a flat surface. Using an old blanket or towel underneath will give you room to work. An important note: allow garment to completely dry before waxing it.
3. Choose your wax. For reproofing, you’ll need a couple of soft (non abrasive) cloths, an hour or two, and of course, wax. For our waxed cotton garments, such as field shorts, we have two different types of wax - wax bar and wax tin from our developer Halley Stevenson in Scotland. The wax bar can give a more “authentic” look as opposed to the tin due to the fact that you can re-wax in several layers and thicknesses.
4. Warm up the wax. For the wax bar, you could warm up the bar close to (*not on) an iron. Just enough to warm up the wax. If using wax in tin, place tin in warm water to soften the wax. Then, spread a thin layer of wax across cotton fabric. A good trick for applying the wax from the tin is using a dry sponge.
5. Iron out wax onto cotton. There’s several methods to do this and one of those ways are using an iron. We highly recommend using a baking sheet between iron and cotton in order to avoid burning the fabric. You could also use a hair dryer. Keep the iron or hairdryer moving slowly, working over the entire surface. The wax will turn shiny as it liquefies, and will disappear as it soaks into the fabric. Wipe away excess wax.
6. Place garment in a dry, warm place —ideally by the fireplace—for at least 24 hrs.