People ask me about leather care all the time, and taking care of leather clothing is fairly simple. Here is my top 12 list for good basic care:
1) Keep your leather jackets hung on well shaped hangers, avoid flat hangers for jackets, shirts and any leather garment with sleeves. Pants and garments that can be stored folded should be folded loosely and not over packed into drawers. Avoid misshapen lapels and collars by not hanging garments too closely together, where lapels and collars can get crushed
2) Leather and Fabrics can both transfer color if packed too tightly next to each other. Big variations in humidity and heat can make this worse. Store your leather with like colors of leather and fabric. Denim and indigo dyes can transfer super easily, so avoid wearing a light color leather bag / or jacket with new denim jeans.
3) If your leather garment gets wet – shake off any droplets & hang it up on a properly shaped hangar and let it dry away from heat. Do not ever hang it over a chair, crumple or fold it up when damp – it will remember that shape!
4) Don’t store in plastic – leather needs to Breath!
3) Avoid oily and greasy cleaners & conditioners – and avoid products with silicone in them. Most leather cleaning & condition products will specify that they do not work on full aniline (naked) leathers.
If you are unsure what type of finish is on your leather, test it in an inconspicuous inside your garment – use just a tiny drop of plain water. The droplet will roll off leathers with protected or semi-aniline finishes. On a full aniline leather the droplet will not roll off and will seep into the leather almost immediately – even if you wipe it off, it will leave a dark water spot. (This normally disappears within an hour or so.)
But imagine if that water droplet had been any type of oil. It would become a permanent stain. Cleaning solutions for full aniline leathers are clear and watery and should state clearly that they are intended for Full Aniline skins.
4) TEST all products in an inconspicuous area BEFORE you apply them to garment. Especially if you don’t know what type of finish your leather has.
5) There is no need to dry clean ANY leather garment on a regular basis; too much dry cleaning will destroy both the leather and the lining. The less Dry Cleaning the better.
6) When you cannot avoid dry-cleaning, try to get a referral. Leather is almost never dry-cleaned on site. If a local dry cleaner says they can do it on site & quickly – get referrals & double check reviews. The label says “Dry Clean by a Leather Specialist” for a reason!
7) DO NOT DRY CLEAN (by any method) these Specialty finished leathers: Hi-Metallic looks and Leathers with spot-printed Glittery or Shiny effects. These are used to accent many printed leathers so be aware that Dry cleaning will remove any shiny effect finish that is an applied foil type print.
8) A reputable dry cleaner will happily spot clean just the lining if that is all that is needed. This is a faster, budget friendly option if your trusted dry cleaner will do it. You can also do spot cleaning of the lining yourself in many cases – you need to be able to pull the lining away from the garment and gently sponge clean just the lining (with water only please!) and don’t get it too wet.
9) Odors in both leather and lining can be treated with a non-scented odor neutralizer. This works great on stale lingering odors like smoke. Turn the garment inside out & spray the inside of the garment lightly from a distance that won’t leave droplets. You can also simply hang and “air out” any leather garment.
10) Avoid the use of any solvents around ALL leathers – Any body, hair or perfume product you may use apply it before you are dressed and make sure it is completely dry before putting on leather.
11) Avoid ball point ink and indelible markers, especially around any light color leathers. There is very little that will remove these marks & the specialty products that do work (sometimes) only work if they are applied immediately.
12) Wear your leather and love it… cherish getting it broken in and let it show it’s character – don’t get too hung up on minor marks or scratches. Most leather requires minimal basic care over its life time and rarely needs more than that.
I’ve worked almost exclusively in leather for well over 20 years, in that time I have seen several leather dry-cleaning disasters, brought to me by clients needing a fix and shown to me by others seeking recommendations.
In ALL this time I have only TWICE ever resorted to Dry-Cleaning my own pieces.
When I first started, I made hats. I had a beloved chocolate brown suede “Carnaby” cap that I dropped into the neon green gel icing of a Cookie ’O Puss cake. (Don’t ask) Needless to say it was a mess!
Dry Cleaning saved the hat, but not the lining, which was degraded enough by the process that the hat did not last too much longer.
Second Case: On an editorial loan out for Little Kim, a leather trench coat came back with a 6” wide yellow stripe painted into the lining- you know, like the center strip down the middle of the road? Nobody asked- they just did – Nice, right? When asked to have the coat dry cleaned or pay for replacement little Kim’s people put up a stink. My PR company was no help, they just bent over for these people-(MaoPR never got in the way of any of their designer’s getting screwed)
I finally able to make direct contact with Little Kim’s people to them know that they could request to get the lining only cleaned if it was too pricey.
It worked – mostly – there are still tiny spots of road paint, but overall the lining is black – and just a little worse for wear. (It’s heavier than the average lining which helped) I still wear the coat- it’s an all time favorite of mine and should have a long life ahead of it!