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How to wash a chef jacket

Updated: October 2026

You have finished a shift with grease on the front, one chef jacket on the chair, and a guessed idea that hotter is cleaner. How to wash a chef jacket starts with the label sewn into that jacket, not with a blog temperature and not with one reviewer's 90°C cycle. Treat grease before a hot wash so the stain does not set, keep bleach as a last resort, and own a dry spare so tomorrow does not depend on a damp sleeve. This page does not rank the nine listings. Those listings and their missing care lines sit in the [Chef's jacket comparison](/hub/occupational-safety/chef-s-jacket). This page is from the Products Compared editorial team, dated 20 October 2026. We used the captured amazon rows, Portwest's datasheets for two models, and UK garment-care notes from Dennys and Nisbets. We did not run a wash test. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

You have finished a shift with grease on the front, one chef jacket on the chair, and a guessed idea that hotter is cleaner.

Our top picks

Portwest Portwest C738 Mesh Air Pro jacket

Best overall

Portwest Portwest C738 Mesh Air Pro jacket
8.2/10about £20.00
View offer
Portwest Portwest C733 Cumbria chef jacket

Rank 2

Portwest Portwest C733 Cumbria chef jacket
8.8/10about £17.02
View offer
Whites Chefs Clothing Whites Boston B250 chef jacket

Best value

Whites Chefs Clothing Whites Boston B250 chef jacket
8.4/10about £8.98
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.Read the label before the cycle
  2. 2.Grease before heat
  3. 3.How many jackets to own
  4. 4.When to stop and ask

Read the label before the cycle

The sewn-in label is the temperature for the jacket in your hand. A marketplace title often omits it. In this set, the amazon saved listings for the Perkin, the Whites Boston, the DiULi, the Fjquamitix, and the three Nanxson listings do not state a wash temperature. You cannot promote a number from a different brand onto those labels. If the label is missing or illegible, do not invent 60°C. Ask the seller for the care line, or wash at a cool cycle until you know. Portwest's datasheet for the C733, and the sheet for the C738, both say machine washable at 60°C. The amazon saved listing for each of those listings does not print fibre or wash temperature. If you own one of those models, the sheet is evidence of what Portwest publishes, and the label in the seam still wins if they disagree. A 40 degree wash mentioned in one C733 review is that reviewer's cycle, not a second official temperature. A professional UK review of the C738 says that jacket survived extensive 90°C washes. Another review says two of six jackets dulled from white to cream in the same sort of wash. Neither sentence is an instruction for your machine. Whites Boston bullets say the cloth is suitable for commercial laundering. They still do not print a degree number in this capture.

Grease before heat

Fatty grease sets when you hit it with a hot wash. Dennys, a UK workwear supplier, tells you to read the label first, then give grease a cool pre-wash no higher than 35°C, and only then the garment's normal temperature. Heat can turn the mark yellow-brown, which is the stain people then try to bleach out. Nisbets makes the matching point for chef whites: do not flood a fresh stain with hot water, and do not tumble-dry a stain that is still visible. Drying bakes in what the wash left behind. Scrape off what you can while the jacket is still cool, then work a small amount of washing-up liquid into the spot and rinse it cool before the cycle. Check the mark under ordinary light before the dryer. If it is still there, wash again at the labelled temperature. Bleach is a last resort on whites, and it is the wrong tool on many coloured jackets. Dennys limits it to some coloured stains and notes that it shortens the life of the cloth. Nisbets says bleach yellows whites and weakens fibres. Oven cleaner and caustic soda attack polyester. Acids attack cotton. If the cloth is a polycotton, you can harm both fibres with the wrong chemical.
Portwest Portwest C738 Mesh Air Pro jacket

Testsieger

Portwest Portwest C738 Mesh Air Pro jacket
8.2/10about £20.00
View offer

How many jackets to own

Own two jackets, and a third if nothing in your kitchen dries overnight. That is a rule of thumb, not a study and not a number in Regulation 852/2004. One jacket means you wear yesterday's grease, wash it and put it on damp, or skip a shift's cover. A damp polycotton sleeve in a kit bag is also how mildew starts, which no star rating measures. If the jacket was the wrong cloth on day one, a hotter cycle will not print a fibre line the listing never had. Cloth you can verify before you buy is the chef jacket buying guide.

When to stop and ask

A commercial laundry is the right call when the label says commercial wash and your domestic machine is leaving the cloth grey, or when you are washing a pile for a team and the temperatures have to match a hazard analysis. The local food-hygiene team is the right call when the question is whether the clothing is suitable and clean enough for the business, not when the question is a stain. They will not set your washing machine. Sleeve length will not be changed by the wash.

Common questions

What temperature should I wash a chef jacket at?
Use the temperature on the label in that jacket. Portwest's datasheets for the C733 and the C738 say machine washable at 60°C. The other seven listings in this amazon set do not state a wash temperature in the saved listing, so 60°C is not a set-wide rule. If your label and a datasheet disagree, follow the label sewn into the garment you are holding.
Can I wash it at 90°C?
Only if that jacket's label allows 90°C. One UK review says a C738 survived extensive 90°C washes, and another says jackets dulled from white to cream. That is experience, not a method. Guessing 90°C because it sounds more hygienic can shrink cloth and set grease. Nothing in this comparison tells you to boil a Nanxson, a Perkin, or a Boston.
How do I get grease out without setting the stain?
Scrape the excess, then pre-treat with washing-up liquid and cool water, no hotter than about 35°C, before the labelled wash. Dennys warns that heat sets fatty stains yellow-brown. Nisbets says not to tumble-dry while the mark is still there. Check the cloth in daylight before the dryer. A second labelled wash beats a hotter cycle the label does not allow.
Is bleach safe on chef whites?
Treat it as a last resort. Nisbets notes that bleach yellows cloth and weakens fibres, and Dennys says it shortens the life of the garment and is only for some stains. It is a poor idea on a coloured jacket, and it will not fix a polyester mark caused by heat. If the whites are already thin, you have less fibre to damage. Oxygen bleach, if you use any, still has to respect the label.
How many jackets do I need if one is still wet?
At least one dry spare, which means two jackets in normal rotation. Keep a third if the first will not dry overnight, which is common in a small flat or a kitchen with no dryer. The figure is a rule of thumb so you are not forced to wear a damp or unwashed coat. It is not a legal minimum.
Does a 60°C line on a Portwest sheet apply to a Nanxson or a Perkin?
No. The 60°C line is on the Portwest C733 and C738 datasheets. Nanxson, Perkin, DiULi, Fjquamitix, and the Whites Boston saved listings in this capture do not state that temperature. The Boston bullets mention commercial laundering without a degree figure. Wash each jacket on its own label.
When should I stop and ask a laundry or the local food team?
Ask a laundry when the label specifies a commercial wash you cannot match at home, or when a whole brigade's whites are coming out grey. Ask the local food team when you are unsure whether the clothing itself is suitable for the business. They are not there to choose between 40°C and 60°C on a domestic machine. A jacket that was never the right cloth will not become one in the wash.

Related pages

Best chef jacket

Chef jacket for a hot kitchen

Chef's jacket

Chef jacket buying guide: checks before you order

Short sleeve vs long sleeve chef jacket in the UK

Sources

Public UK sources from the research digest; last checked on 21 October 2026. Shelf prices and star lines are the amazon.co.uk figures in the display file.

  1. GOV.UK, staff hygiene in a food business (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  2. Food Standards Agency, personal hygiene (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  3. FSA Safer Food, Better Business, Chinese cuisine personal hygiene (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  4. EUR-Lex, Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 (consolidated) (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  5. HSE L25, personal protective equipment at work (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  6. Arun District Council, health and safety for food businesses (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  7. Nisbets, buying a chef's jacket (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  8. Portwest C733 product datasheet (retrieved 21 October 2026)