What to check in accepting leathers
hen you accept suede and leather garments for
cleaning, it is important for you to examine each item for
conditions that are problems or may become problems if they are
not pointed out to the customer before the item is cleaned.
The conditions that are usually
encountered on suede and leather garments you receive for
cleaning generally fall into three categories. The Royaltone
Method defines these as: (1) Conditions of Use, (2) Conditions
of Manufacture and (3) Natural Conditions.
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Conditions of manufacture are
things the manufacturer of the garment did that can present you
with a potential problem.
Examples of conditions of
manufacture include over stretching of skins that later shrink
back to original size in wearing and cleaning, use of soluble
glue that bleeds in wearing and cleaning, use of dissimilar
diseased or improperly tanned skins on the garment that can
disintegrate in wearing and cleaning, use of pigment dye powder
finish that comes off in wearing or cleaning.
Natural conditions are marks and
scars in the garment skins that result from injuries to the
skin during the time the animal possessed it. Examples of
natural conditions include tick bite scars, belly wrinkle
scars, barb wire scars, vein marks, etc.
Point out the conditions
If any of the conditions in these
three categories exist on any suede or leather garment you
accept, they must be called to the attention of your customer
to avoid misunderstandings and problems due to lack of
communication. This procedure is the same as in accepting
regular drycleaning, where you have found, through experience,
that if the customer is forewarned and prepared for possible
problems before processing, many lengthy discussions and
arguments can be avoided later and customer good will
safeguarded.
Give good advice
You should also give your customer
good advice. This includes recommending that the garment be
cleaned at least once a year to protect the skin from drying
out and to remove soil and stains before they become set with
age.
For example, leather cleaning with
Royaltone detergent conditioner will retain the natural oils in
the skin and retain suppleness.
Further, you should also recommend
that your customer have their valuable suede or leather garment
protected with a protective coating like Royal Shield to
protect it from staining and soiling after purchase or
cleaning.
Checking for conditions of use
One of the conditions you must be
alert for when accepting leather and suede is conditions of
use, which as previously described are those things that occur
to damage the garment as it is worn by its owner. Conditions of
Use include damage like rips and tears, missing buttons, worn
areas, fade, spots and stains, oxidation, sun fade, water
spotting, perspiration, cigarette burn holes, torn or worn
button holes, broken or bent buttons, torn seams, hard or
brittle hide, heavily soiled, worn or cracked lacquer, holes in
pockets, worn linings and faded areas.
Familiar conditions
As you can see from the preceding
list, many of the damage conditions that occur to a suede or
leather garment as it is worn by its owner are the same or
similar to those damage conditions that occur to cloth garments
as they are worn.
Therefore, as a drycleaner, you
are already very familiar with most of the conditions of use or
abuse that you will encounter on suede, leather and fur
garments when they are brought in to you for cleaning.
Even if you never clean a suede,
leather or fur garment yourself, you should become consciously
familiar with the conditions of use that you may encounter when
a customer presents you with one of these garments.
It is important that you examine
the garment to determine if any of these conditions of use
exist at the time the garment is presented. Failure to do so
carries the same consequences that you face on a cloth garment
that you accept at the counter.
Your responsibility
Specifically, responsibility for
the garment is yours once you accept it, whether or not you
clean it yourself or send it out for others to clean.
Just as with cloth garments, once
the customer leaves the store, any actual or inherent damage
that may be discovered later, will become your responsibility,
if you haven’t pointed it out to the customer at the time
the garment was left with you.
Same old complaints
Just as with cloth garments, if
you don’t catch the damage at the counter, you will get
the same reaction from the customer on suede, leather and fur.
You may hear familiar complaints
such as “You burned a hole in my coat”, or “You
lost my buttons”, or “You tore my jacket”, or
“You faded my garments”. And just as with cloth
garments, you will be held responsible and expected to make
restitution for those conditions of use that you should have
noticed when the garment was brought in.
Make a determined effort
So it is important that you make a
determined effort to examine every suede, leather and fur
garment that comes across your counter and point out conditions
of use that exist to the customer and obtain a release
signature before he or she leaves the premises. Then, instead
of having to make restitution for damage, you will be able to
charge extra for the repair, replacement or correction of such
damage that was, in fact, caused by the customer during the
course of his or her use of the article.
Frank Lucenta invented the Royaltone
process and created the products for his method of cleaning and
finishing leather and suede. He also wrote related instruction
books that document the process. He teaches plant owners and
managers how to identify, accept, spot, wet clean, dry clean,
press and recolor suedes, leathers. The next Royaltone leather
training sessions taught by Frank and Bruce Lucenta are
scheduled for February 7-8 and April 11-12 at the
Royaltone Suedemate Leather Cleaning Center in Tulsa, OK. The
two-day sessions consist of classroom and in-plant hands-on
sessions covering drycleaning and wetcleaning. Early enrollment
ensures a place in the class and an advance copy of the
instruction books. After-training support is provided for
implementation of a leather wetcleaning and/or drycleaning
service. For more information on the training sessions or on
spotting charts in either English or Korean, call (800)
331-5506, (918) 622-6677, fax (918) 665-6017 or e-mail frank@royaltone.com. Information is also available on the Royaltone
web site: www.royaltone.com