National Clothesline

nother natural skin condition is known as dark areas. These dark areas are found primarily in naked skin leathers and cuir savage leathers. By definition, a naked skin leather has no surface finish and all the color is dyed into the skin. A cuir savage leather has a slight surface finish or a buffed surface to give it a satin-like sheen. Both of these leathers will readily absorb liquids that come in contact with them.

The dark areas that occur in these leathers are usually confined to individual skins. They show up in some of the skin panels that are sewn together to form a garment such as a coat or jacket. Certain portions of these panels contain dark blotchy areas. These dark areas will often be near the seam of the panel. When they are, the dark areas will abruptly stop at the seam and not cross over to the next panel as they would if the dark area was a stain due to spillage.

Therefore, it can be concluded that the dark area is caused by something other than spillage after the panels are sewn together. Instead, it must have occurred before the garment was ever worn and before the panels were ever sewn together.

Further evidence that this is the case can be obtained by examining a naked skin or cuir savage leather garment that is hanging on the rack at the new clothing store. These garments have never been worn by a human and yet they have these dark areas on some of the panels.

These dark areas will vary in shade and intensity, as well as size, but they will be there for the discerning eye to see. And they will become darker and more noticeable as the owner of the garment wears it. This is because these areas of skin have an affinity for and attract the tanning oils during the tanning process and body oils during use. These dark areas tend to absorb and attract body oils from perspiration of the wearer as well as any other oily films they may contact in use.

Causes of dark areas

These dark areas originate during the time the animal was wearing the skin, and to some degree, during the tanning process. The dark areas are usually associated with skin areas where the animal’s

limbs have rubbed against its sides. These dark areas are also associated with areas where the skin may have been abraded and then buffed during the tanning process to remove bumps and high spots to provide a more uniform skin thickness on smooth leathers.

“All that’s very interesting,” you may say, “But so what?”

Well, what if your customer brings you a naked skin or cuir savage leather garment and it has these very typical and characteristic dark areas on some of its panels?

The customer will assume that the dark areas are 1) stains and 2) that the dark areas will be removed in the cleaning process.

Both of these assumptions are erroneous and full of potential for bad customer relations and claims.

You must show your customer these dark areas and explain:

1. How they originated.

2. How they were there when the garment was purchased.

3. How wearing the garment accentuated them.

4. How they do not go across a seam.

5. How the dark areas will not go away when cleaned but will probably be even darker and more noticeable after cleaning!

Any cures?

Some leather cleaning chemicals, equipment and procedures can minimize and lighten these dark areas. However, few leather cleaning operations have either the time or the facilities to employ them. So you must prepare the customer for the inevitable before the fact.

There are also some after-cleaning refinishing materials and spray techniques that can cover these dark areas. However, these for the most part employ pigmented paints that will cover the dark areas but will also add material to the surface of the skin with the inevitable result that the skin will feel stiffer and look and feel different.

None of these after-cleaning refinishing techniques should be employed without first obtaining customer approval and a release signature.

You are now ready to accept suede and leather for cleaning without fear of problems due to natural skin conditions. You should explain natural skin conditions to the customer at the counter before cleaning, thereby avoiding unnecessary complaints and claims due to misunderstandings resulting from lack of knowledge at the counter and lack of communication with the customer regarding what they should expect when they leave their valuable suede or leather garments with you.

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 3-4, June 5-6 and Sept. 11-12 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 available on the Royaltone web site, www.royaltone.com.