growing
concern for the environment has spurred the search for more
environmentally friendly methods of cleaning suedes and
leathers. The result was the development of the wetcleaning
process which has been called the ultimate processing method
for cleaning suedes and leathers.
Wetcleaning is the industry term used to
describe washing or laundering drycleanable articles using
water as the cleaning fluid and additives like water soluble
detergents, conditioners and auxiliary
treatments like dye setting and sizing.
 | ||
Washing suedes and leathers can be found
in the processes performed in tanneries where the skins of
animals are made into leather. Washing the skins in water is
used extensively throughout the tanning process which starts
with washing the salt-cured, blood-soaked skins after they
arrive at the tannery from the slaughterhouses, continues
throughout the tanning process with treatments that use water
as the liquid carrying agent for the tanning chemicals and dyes
as well as for rinsing them out, and ends with a fine spray of
water on the leather to establish the final desired moisture
level in the skins.
In more developed countries like the
United States, wetcleaning of suedes and leathers was not used
to process all items because drying was time consuming compared
to modern high production-oriented leather dry-cleaning
operations.
In less developed countries, wetcleaning
of suedes and leathers was quite common because these nations
did not possess the capital, technology, machinery, solvents or
chemicals for modern, efficient, high-quality leather
drycleaning.
However the advent of modern wetcleaning
products and equipment enables leather cleaners to meet
environmental concerns and wetclean suedes and leathers safely
and efficiently.
Wetcleaning can be especially advantageous
with items that have water soluble stains caused by blood,
vomit or milk products that have soaked into the suedes or
leathers.
It is also better for wetcleaning
distressed leathers and items trimmed with vinyl. Wetcleaning
these items could be the only way to safely clean and restore
them to a usable condition.
Equipment and machines
Suede and leather wetcleaning equipment
can be as simple as a bucket, a sink, a tub or some other type
of container. It can be done in a simple washing machine like a
small home washer if volume is not too great.
A home washer can wetclean four to 12
suedes or leathers an hour! It can also be done in larger
standard commercial laundry washers for greater output. Or it
can be done in modern wetcleaning machines equipped with
washing cycle programs that control drum rotation, mechanical
agitation, timing of multiple cycles, water temperature, water
level injection of additives, extraction speeds and duration
etc.
In most cases, the cycles of these
machines can be custom programmed in accordance with
information from the detergent and additive manufacturers.
Wetcleaned items can be dried by hanging to dry in the air, or
by tumbling in a cool tumbler or by using a special dryer that
can be programmed to sense and control moisture level and
temperature.
An existing washer can be used to get
started on wetcleaning suede and leather. Drying can be
accomplished by hanging or tumbling in a cool tumbler. The home
washer will do if no other wetcleaning equipment is available.
Or, the shirt laundry washer can be used if it is available.
One or two pieces of old suede or leather can be wetcleaned to
build confidence. From there it is off to the races!
Additives
The additives used to wetclean suedes and
leathers must be biodegradable, non-hazardous, non-flammable
and non-solvent in order to meet government regulations when
the used wash water is dumped into existing sewer systems. In
addition, they must be able to restore suede and leather to its
original softness, without glue bleed problems, without
shrinkage, without color loss, without color bleed on
multicolored items and on cloth, suede, leather or vinyl
combinations.
The most essential additives required to
safely wetclean suedes and leathers are the prewash dye fixer,
the main wash detergent conditioner and the prefinish rinse
conditioner!
The most important additives are the
detergent and the conditioner used in the main wash cycle. The
detergent is used to remove and suspend stains and water
soluble soils and to prevent them from redepositing on the
items being wetcleaned. It must be effective in cold or warm
water.
The purpose of the conditioner is to
prevent color loss and bleeding of the dyes and to retain the
softness of the skins during the main wash cycle. The ideal
situation is achieved when these two additives are combined
into a single product such as Royaltone’s Prosuede Wet
Detergent Plus Conditioner.
The next most important additive required
to wetclean suedes and leathers is the prefinish softener
conditioner rinse. The purpose of this additive is to provide
added softness on the final rinse cycle that will aid in press
finishing. These conditions can be achieved with a product such
as Royaltone’s Leather Soft Softener Conditioner Rinse.
The next important additive required to
wetclean suedes and leathers is a prewash dye fixer. The
purpose of this additive is to set dyes that testing indicates
are water soluble. This can easily be accomplished with a
product like Royaltone’s Leather Fix Prewash Dye Fixer.
Other additives that are also useful
include a sizing like Royaltone’s Leather Size Firming
Rinse, which will restore body and firmness to suede and
leather items that become limp because they contain water
soluble sizing which is removed in the wetcleaning process.
Removing stains
While most water soluble stains can be
removed from suedes and leathers in wetcleaning, some
prespotting may be necessary with a biodegradable wetcleaning
prespotter like Royaltone’s Leather Magic Wetside
Prespotter. Oily solvent soluble stains such as paint, oil,
grease, etc. must be removed with a non-oily POG stain remover
like Royaltone’s Spot Magic Non-Oily POG Spotter prior to
wetcleaning any suede or leather. The non-oily POG will flush
out in the wetcleaning without leaving an oily ring.
Likewise ink stains must be removed with a
non-oily ink remover like Royaltone’s Ink Magic Spot
Remover prior to wetcleaning.
To start wetcleaning suedes and leathers,
the key additives to use in an existing washer are additives
like Royaltone’s Prosuede Wet Detergent Plus Conditioner,
Leather Soft Softener/Conditioner Rinse, Leather Fix Prewash
Dye Fixer and Leather Magic Prespotter, Spot Magic Non-Oily
POG, and Ink Magic Ink Spot Remover. All of these products are
packaged in an inexpensive trial kit that comes with written
and audio cassette instructions.
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 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.
 |
