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Thursday, February 7, 2008

How To Care For Your Leather Clothing

By Jim Newton

Leather has been used by mankind since the beginnings of clothing, and it has remained popular through the years because of it's durability and functionality. Leather is a living breathing fabric, and requires special care.

This means you should not leave your leather garments in a plastic garment bag! It can't breathe, and will cause the leather to dry out. Opt for a cloth cover instead.

It is not recommended that you Iron your leather clothing, however, if you feel you must, then special care should be taken. Use the iron at the lowest possible setting, do not use steam, and move the iron quickly across the garment. An insert (like a paper bag) between the iron and the garment is a good idea too.

Professional leather cleaning is recommended for all leathers, and fabric garments trimmed with leather. Normal dry cleaning methods will not yield proper results. Clean matching garments at the same time, since a slight variation is color or texture may occur as a natural result of the cleaning process. Natural marks and wrinkles could become more apparent after cleaning. Garment may shrink slightly, but will stretch again with wear. Professionally applied water and stain repellent products are often available.

If you take good care of your leather, it will last longer than you do.

To keep the leather garment shape, we recommend hanging it on a wide padded hager that has strength, plastic hangers and wire hangers will not do.

Allow wet or damp leather to air-dry naturally away from any heat source. Leather can be treated with a conditioner to restore flexibility.

In bad weather, promptly remove salt deposits from leather clothing by sponging with clear water.

If using a cleaning product, test it in a small area to insure it will not damage the leather, and insure that it is not wax, or silicone based as this will prevent the leather from breathing properly.

A seamstress will have the tools need to repair your leather clothing. If you want to do it yourself, rubber cement for hems will do fine, and a special leather needle and thread will be needed for more aggressive repair.

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