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Insect Shield; factory treat your clothes

Allegheny Tom

Allegheny Tom

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2018
Messages
6,047
Location
Western Pennsylvania
It's definitely tick season (shed hunting, morels, turkeys, habitat chores) and thought I'd share my observations of sending my clothing to the Insect Shield company for the "lifetime" permethrin treatment.
Although I do treat my own clothes with permethrin concentrate, it's not always convenient when I don't have clothes that are dry from spraying. Sometimes you just don't plan to be out in tick habitat so it is nice to have factory, pre-treated clothing, grab and go. They claim the factory, lifetime treatment is good for 70 cycles thru the laundry. I'm skeptical that it lasts 70 washings but it does definite last longer than home treatments.
I was wearing an older pair of Insect Shield pants the other day that definitely haven't been laundered 70 times, but they have been thru a lot of rugged use. I wonder if the treatment wears off when clothes are used hill walking thru abrasion of heavy cover? I picked dozens of ticks off those old pants on Saturday.

Now, the main point of this thread... Insect Shield offers 2 options for shipping your clothes to them for the lifetime treatment.
1) Easy Pack option. Prepay them $119 and they send you a UPS postage paid plastic shipping bag that they claim will hold 10-15 items. I'd highly advise against that option. I'm not a large person, 34"waist, x 30" inseam. I packed the bag as carefully as I could, and used thinner clothing and I could only get 6 pairs of pants in it. There was a little more space so I also fit-in 2 shirts. You larger guys wouldn't get close to fitting that many items of your size in that little bag. My 8 items came out to almost $15 each and obviously postage is not "free", it's factored into the price. Never forget that there's no such thing as free shipping, it's always factored into the price.
2)Per Piece option. $9 per item (up to 20 items) and you pack the container of your choice and shipping is not pre paid. My 8 items would have cost me $72 plus shipping. Let's estimate the shipping cost would be +- $20. Seems like I could have gotten around 3 more pair of pants treated for $119.

One more point, if you want to treat things like T shirts or socks, you can probably fit 10-15 items in the Easy Pack bag.
IMO, the most important clothing item to treat for ticks are pants. 99% of the time, ticks latch onto my legs and then work their way up. If pants are treated I seldom have ticks ever latch on.

Ticks are evil. Don't get bit.

www.insectshield.com

Permethrin Clothing Treatment - We Treat Clothing For You

Why try spraying clothes with permethrin yourself when you can use Insect Shield’s clothing treatment service? Just send us your clothes, and we’ll treat them with permethrin for you.
www.insectshield.com www.insectshield.com
 
I bought a highly concentrated bottle of permethrin on Amazon years ago. It only takes a 1/2 oz in a 32 oz spray bottle filled with water to treat my clothes. It’s super cheap and effective no way would I pay for that service.
 
I bought one of those garden pump sprayers with a plunger. I pour 3 or 4 bottles of sawyers in there, hang up my hunting clothes on hangers, then put those on the ladder rungs I. The back yard. I can spray down all my clothes in less than 20 minutes. I wait for a warm, sunny, breezy day to do this. Let them hang for a couple hours and then store them all away.
 
Do whatever makes you happy.
I spray my clothes too. But I also like to have some factory treated clothing that's always ready to go.
Ticks are active in temps into the 30s. It's not always convenient or have the right conditions to spray when it's 35 degrees out.
I once helped a buddy trail his buck. The high that November day was 37 degrees. In 3 hours I picked 58 ticks off of me. I had no time that morning to get clothes out, spray them, and wait around for them to dry. Seems like a no brainer to have some factory treated clothes.
A hundred dollars is well worth it to avoid Lyme Disease.
 
Wasn't trying to offend. I do my prep before season. Yes, lyme disease and all the other terrible things ticks carry, sucks. The clothes I spray for spring gobbler season are still killing ticks during deer season.
 
They're pretty bad already in my region. Saw tons of them this past weekend.

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I just got my deer tags for this summer and sat last nite. Found three on me when I got home. Wasn't wearing my treated clothes B.C. I didn't expect them yet! Won't happen again!
 
woodsdog2 said:
It’s crazy how the ticks are so prominent and prolific so early and late into the seasons now. Never had that 30 years ago at least up north here.
Click to expand...
Growing up, I don't remember really seeing ticks even being out in the woods in the summer. Now they're just everywhere.

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This made me retreat my early season whitetail/turkey clothes at the beginning of last week. I got the livestock/ stall spray permethrin refill bottle from TSC for around $20 and put an ounce and a half in an old Sawyers 24oz. Spray bottle. That will go a lot farther than the premix from sawyers.
 
woodsdog2 said:
This made me retreat my early season whitetail/turkey clothes at the beginning of last week. I got the livestock/ stall spray permethrin refill bottle from TSC for around $20 and put an ounce and a half in an old Sawyers 24oz. Spray bottle. That will go a lot farther than the premix from sawyers.
Click to expand...
Maybe I'll try that. I've always used the small spray bottle from TSC but w/good results. Did a short sit this week for does and killed three ticks on my shirt. Just a short sit, don't need my treated outfit!!! THAT won't happen again.
 
I am very skeptical that it lasts the lifetime of the product and that no reapplication is necessary.
 
chaded said:
I am very skeptical that it lasts the lifetime of the product and that no reapplication is necessary.
Click to expand...
I think the longevity has a lot to do with how the garment is used. I have to believe rugged use like brush busting, crawling, or hard work reduces how long the "lifetime" treatment lasts, more so than casual wear, hiking, etc. Does the stuff wear out or wear off? I suspect it's the latter.
They say "lifetime" of the garment or "70 launderings". Lifetime is pretty subjective but 70 washings is not. I certainly have not experienced longevity of 70 washings but I have had Insect Shield clothes repel ticks for several years. One pair of Rail Raider pants have seen hard use for over a dozen years but the treatment seems to be finally pooping-out and those pant wear like iron, they are far from being worn out.

I still use 10% permethrin concentrate for clothes, gear, and even spray the outside of my home with it.
But I also like the convenience of factory treated clothing that are ready to go, for years, right out of the closet.
I just got a shipping notice from Insect Shield. My clothes should be delivered tomorrow.
 
woodsdog2 said:
This made me retreat my early season whitetail/turkey clothes at the beginning of last week. I got the livestock/ stall spray permethrin refill bottle from TSC for around $20 and put an ounce and a half in an old Sawyers 24oz. Spray bottle. That will go a lot farther than the premix from sawyers.
Click to expand...
Do you have the brand name? I've been wanting to go this route, but I always get killed in the analysis because there are reports some of the TSC offerings have strong chemical/petroleum content or smell.
 
It’s Gordan’s Permithrin 10 and It does have an initial strong smell but it fades especially if you hang them out for awhile. I also noticed it smells more on some fabrics than others too.
 
Martin's is what I use make my own 0.5% to treat my clothes. Slight odor when initially applied, but not much once dried.

I tried some stuff with petroleum distillates in it initially and I found the odor really bad. Like the clothes would give me a headache if I wore them indoors bad.

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