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Surprisingly enough, plastic trim is also used on suede and leather articles and can easily be mistaken for leather. While leather will clean satisfactorily in an acceptable leather cleaning process, the plastic may not.

What you know about plastic trims on cloth will apply equally to plastic trims on suede and leather. Button hole areas are a favorite place for using plastic material on suedes. Always look at the underside of the material to determine if it is leather or plastic. If it is leather it will normally be sueded. If it is plastic it will normally have a fabric like backing.

Plastic and vinyl trims

In the suede and leather market, you will find simulated leather trim and garments made from plastic and vinyl materials which are formulated and produced by hundreds of manufacturers utilizing a myriad of formulations. A number of these may be satisfactorily drycleaned in certain instances.

In leather cleaning, just as in regular drycleaning, some plastics may harden, crack or bleed, even with careful handling, under controlled conditions, when exposed to certain drycleaning fluids and/or drying temperatures used in the leather cleaning process.

The only way to really know if the plastic will harden, crack or bleed is to test it by removing a small sample, if possible, from an inside seam. Then pin it to a handkerchief or other piece of cloth so it won’t be lost when you run it through the entire cleaning and drying process with one of your loads.

If the plastic sample comes through the cycle without getting hard or cracking or bleeding, then chances are good that the entire piece will do the same when drycleaned.

If it does harden, crack or bleed, then the whole piece will probably do the same when drycleaned.

In such a case you should consider wetcleaning the item to avoid the loss of plasticizer from the plastic trim that occurs in the drycleaning process.

You can not only determine if the plastic will survive the drycleaning or wetcleaning process, but also if it will survive the drying process. You may find that the plastic will come through the drycleaning or wetcleaning without hardening but will harden if it is dried with heat. In this case, you can clean the article and dry it without heat and it will probably be fine.

If the plastic piece gets hard, it does so because the drycleaning fluid removed the plasticizer material from the plastic. If it didn’t crack, the plasticizer can be replaced by immersing the article in a solution of drycleaning fluid mixed with a plasticizer such as Royaltone’s Ultra-Plast to replace the plasticizer material that came out of the plastic in the drycleaning process.

However, if the plastic is a trim on cloth or suede, the plasticizer material in the drycleaning fluid in a dip tank may affect the cloth or suede portions adversely by making them stiffer and or by matting down the nap of the suede. The customer should be advised of all these possibilities and a release signature obtained before you accept the garment.

Belt backings

Another problem item that you might run into is cardboard or plastic belt backing instead of a more

drycleanable material.

Belt backings, of course, are used to give belts firmness. However, to use a cardboard material with a slick coating or a vinyl plastic, does nothing but create problems for the drycleaner and the leather cleaner as well as grief for them and the owner of the belt.

As you know, if the backing is made of

cardboard it will come apart in the cleaning and will look unsightly and unacceptable to the customer. If the belt backing is plastic there is a good chance it will get stiff, hard, crack, and peel.

Examine all belts

These results are unsatisfactory and they will not please your customer, so be sure to examine all belts that come in with leather garments just as you would if they were cloth garments. If they are backed with cardboard or plastic, then advise the customer of the possible undesirable results and obtain a customer release.

Be cautious

Of course take every precaution to minimize the effect of the mechanical action, the drycleaning fluid or the water and heat in drying when cleaning the backing, if you do accept it for cleaning. You might even consider hand cleaning such items as a way to eliminate the risk in cleaning them.

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 Dec. 5- 6, Feb 6-7 and April 3-4 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. Information is also availbale on the Royaltone web site, www.royaltone.com.