Removing bad spots and stains
One of the more common conditions of use
found in suede and leather garments are bad spots and stains.
Following our previously described procedure for proper
handling of suede and leather when presented at your counter,
examine the garment carefully. One of the things to examine for
is bad spots and stains. Bad spots and stains on suedes, naked
leathers and cuir savage leathers
will always be soaked into the skin.
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If the bad spots and stains are on a
painted leather, they will only be on the surface of the
impervious lacquer finish. If this is the case, the spot or
stain would normally be easily removed by any drycleaner by
utilizing safe spotting products designed specifically for use
on suede and leather such as Royaltone’s Spot Wiz-Wet,
Spot Wiz-dry and Spot Wiz-VDS. Do not use spotting chemicals
that are made for use on cloth garments as these chemicals will
damage the suede and leather garments.
Normally all that is required to remove
spots and stains on a painted leather is Spot Wiz Wet, a wet
side spotting product designed to safely remove all water
soluble spots and stains from the surface of the lacquer and
Spot Wiz Dry, a dry side spotter to remove oil, paint, grease,
ink or cosmetic stains.
If the spots or stains are on a suede,
naked leather or cuir savage leather, and they are to be
drycleaned, the same spotting procedure should be followed.
However, the results may not be as complete, since these spots
and stains are soaked down into the skin and are not just on
the surface, as is the case of the painted leather. The
spotting products will soak into the skin to loosen the spots
and stains; they will only be removed by leather drycleaning.
If the bad spots and stains are to be
wetcleaned, they can be safely removed with safe leather
wetcleaning products such as Royaltone’s Leather Magic,
Spot Magic and Ink Magic stain removers. Non-oily bad spots and
stains on suedes and leathers are more likely to be
successfully removed by wetcleaning, while oily bad spots and
stains are more likely to be successfully removed by
drycleaning.
Bad spots and stains should be pointed out
to the customer at the counter and the customer should be
advised that they may be set and that it may not be possible to
remove them by using techniques and products that are safe on
the color and safe on skin. By following this procedure the
customer will not be disappointed if the safe spot removal
techniques are not 100% successful.
A familiar approach
I am sure this approach to bad spots and
stains is familiar to you since the same situation may exist on
cloth garments where certain spots are set and difficult or
impossible to remove. The chance of success without causing
damage to the garment is greater for cloth garments because
spot removers made for use on cloth can be used while they
should not be used on suede and leather garments.
Specifically, protein spotting agents and
heavy duty grease spot removers can cause problems on skins
that they do not cause on cloth. This can be readily understood
when you realize that the dyes used to color suedes, naked
leathers and cuir savage leathers are organic in nature and
will be removed by protein spotting agents and the paints used
on painted leathers are lacquers that will be removed by POG’s.
Avoid unhappy customers
The application of a protein spotter which
is intended to remove organic stains such as milk, food, etc.,
will also remove the dye along with the stains. This doesn’t
make the customer happy, especially if you are not equipped to
restore the dye that was removed.
The same is true of heavy duty paint, oil
and grease spotters. They work well on removing paint and, if
used on a painted leather or cuir savage leather, they will do
a good job of removing the lacquer finish and the shine from
these leathers which will make the customer unhappy, unless you
are in a position to restore the color and shine to these
articles.
Just as in cloth, unremovable spots and
stains in suede and leather may remain after the color and
finish are gone.
In the case of leather, if properly
equipped, the leather cleaner in certain instances, can cover
up the spots and stains by using a pigmented leather paint.
However, this may change the look, feel and character of the
leather and that, too, may not make the customer happy.
Get a release and get advance payment
In any event, anyone accepting suede and
leather garments with bad spots and stains should explain the
probabilities for successful removal and/or covering up of bad
spots and stains to the customer. In addition, you should
obtain a customer release, if such spots and stains are to be
treated with anything beyond the safe suede and leather spot
removers.
Furthermore, if the customer does agree to
accept the risk of the more risky treatments, it would be
advisable to request an advance payment sufficient to cover the
cost of doing the work as it is possible that the customer will
not accept and pay for the garment after expensive processing.
Author’s Note: The products referred to in this article are
specifically formulated for use on leathers. Other products
made for use on suede and leather may not give the same results
when used as described in this article. Do not use products not
specifically formulated for use on suede and leather.
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, dryclean,
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. 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.
