Jerseys take some serious punishment. Jerseys are usually the first to get sweaty, muddy, bloody and dirty. But we take pride in the name on the front as well as the name on the back, so we want to care for them as best we can and keep them looking fresh and clean.

What’s the best way to care for a jersey and keep it looking clean and new? We’ve got you covered with this guide:

By following these tips, you'll extend the life of your jersey and ensure they're fresh and clean every time you put it on!

Always wash inside out.
The inside of a washing machine is a very hostile environment for clothes, let alone the delicate designs on sports jerseys. The best thing you can do to protect the numbers, logos and patches on your jersey is to turn it inside out before washing. This will prevent the jersey from rubbing against other jerseys, the inside of the washing machine or even against itself.

Allow to pre-soak in detergent prior to washing.
Ideally, you’ll want to pre-soak your jersey in cold water with detergent prior to washing it. There are two very common ways people do this. For equipment managers of professional and collegiate sports programs who have plenty of room, it may be easiest to fill up a few plastic garbage bins with jerseys, water and detergent and let it sit on the bus back home. The agitation of the ride will shake up the detergent and water enough to provide you a sufficient pre-soak.

Or if you’re washing your laundry at home or in an industrial-sized washing machine, the best thing to do is to start the wash, then when you see the detergent sudsing, pause the wash and allow everything to soak. When you’re done, just resume the wash. Very simple!

Machine wash cold separately, or at least with like colors.
Jerseys are supposed to look crisp and fresh. Running colors will instantly ruin the appeal of a jersey. There are two things you can do to prevent colors from running onto or off of your jersey.

First, always wash in cold water! This will prevent colors running from your jersey and looking faded. Second, try to wash jerseys with identical jerseys or alone. By adding additional clothes into the wash, especially items with different colors, you risk having the colors from those items running and staining your jersey.

Never wash with jeans, towels or items with zippers.
Aside from colors running, another thing you want to avoid is unnecessary friction against your jerseys while they are being washing. The worst culprits for this are jeans, towels or items with zippers. While you should aim for washing jerseys separately, if you absolutely need to add them to another wash, at least make sure none of these items are in the same wash.

Never put in dryer. Air dry instead.
Dryers are also rough on your jerseys. Not only can they also cause unnecessary friction on your jersey and cause pilling, but they may also shrink your jersey. Avoid all of these potential problems by simply air-drying your jerseys.

Use a detergent designed to clean jerseys.
Sweat stains, dirt stains, blood stains, body odor. These are all things that do not affect your everyday clothes, but definitely affect your sports clothes and jerseys. Average detergents aren’t designed to handle these sorts of stains, sweat and body odor. Choose a detergent specifically formulated to handle these sports laundry issues such as Vapor Fresh® Laundry Detergent Powder or Vapor Fresh® Laundry Detergent Pods and you’ll end up with much cleaner, brighter, better smelling and better looking jerseys and sports apparel.