When another’s goof is your
problem
Occasionally a customer will bring in a
suede or leather garment that has been improperly cleaner by
another cleaner. Such garments can be satisfactorily restored
in most cases. However, the restoration process can be time
consuming and expensive because it is highly labor intensive
and requires expensive materials.
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Improperly cleaned suedes and leathers
usually exhibit one or more of the following problems:
• The skin is dried out.
• The skin is stiff.
• The color has faded on suedes or
naked skin leathers.
• The surface finish is gone from
painted leathers.
• Color has faded from the suede or
leather on to the cloth portions or onto adjacent contrasting
colors of suede or leather panels.
Suede and leather garments require special
prespotting, cleaning, softening and spray applications with
dyes and/or paint finishes to restore the original color and
finish.
Leather garments may also require complete
removal of the original finish and spray application of a
pigmented surface finish plus special pressing before and after
spray finishing.
Although the chances are good for
satisfactory restoration of the garment after improper
cleaning, it should be remembered and pointed out to customers
that the garment they brought in is unwearable as it is and
that you will attempt to restore it to a wearable condition at
their risk.
Not quite perfect
After processing the improperly cleaned
garment, it may appear to be different because it may not be
possible to completely soften the stiff skin to its original
softness. The skin may still feel dryer than it was originally,
the color may differ slightly from the original or the color on
a suede may not be perfectly even in an area that was
improperly spotted and the color was lost.
Because of all the variations that might
occur in restoring an improperly cleaned suede or leather it is
advisable to require a customer release before accepting
garments that were improperly cleaned.
It is further advisable to obtain at least
partial payment in advance to cover the costs to be incurred
before investing a lot of time and materials in the restoration
of a previously improperly cleaned suede or leather garment.
The customer may deem the finished product unsatisfactory and
let you keep it after you have made an investment of time,
effort and materials.
Frank Lucenta is president of Royaltone
Co., Inc., a firm that manufacturers the products he developed
to make it possible for any cleaner to safely AND profitably
dryclean, wetclean and finish any suede, leather, fur and
trimmed cloth garment. He also wrote related instruction books
that document the process, entitled “Handling Leather and
Suede” and “Cleaning and Finishing Leather and
Suede.” He also teaches small groups of plant owners and
managers how to identify, accept, spot, dryclean and wetclean,
press and recolor suedes, leathers, and furs using his
Royaltone procedures and products. The next Royaltone Leather
training sessions are scheduled for April 11-12, June 6-7, and
Sept. 12-13 at the Royaltone Suedemate Leather Cleaning Center
in Tulsa, OK. For more information on 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
Infofmation is also availbale
on the Royaltone web site, www.royaltone.com.
