National Clothesline

rom time to time, suede and leather items with excessive amounts of blood or vomit soaked into them are brought in for cleaning. The blood may have come from an uncontrollable nose bleed or perhaps an automobile accident or some other kind of accident. These suede and leather items are usually stiff with dried blood or vomit when received. The soaked-in dried blood or vomit is usually so extensive that the item is essentially ruined and not usable.

Talk to the customer

Before accepting or doing anything to such an item, get the approval from the customer. The customer must assume full risk and responsibility for the cost involved in the procedures that must be

followed to attempt to restore the suede or leather item.

It should be noted on the order ticket and the customer should be advised that there are components to the blood or vomit that could affect the color and texture of the skin, causing color loss and stiffening and that these problems would become evident after the blood or vomit is removed.

Try spotting first

The first step in the procedure is to prespot with a specially formulated leather prespotter like Spot Wiz Wet. Then blot up the blood or vomit before using a special leather cleaning method like the Royaltone method.

The stain may also be so extensive that using a spot remover is far too time consuming to be practical. The best way to attempt to remove blood or vomit from an excessively stained item is to soak it and wetclean it in cold water mixed with specially formulated leather wetcleaning products

Try soaking next

Soaking the suede or leather may be accomplished by immersing it in a container of cold water mixed with a special wetcleaning leather detergent plus conditioner like Prosuede Wet. Allow the item to soak in the detergent plus conditioner mixture over night so the blood or vomit can dissolve and float out of the skin.

The suede or leather item can be agitated manually several times during the soaking. It can also be gently wrung out by hand and the water leather detergent plus conditioner mixture replaced several times during the soaking procedure.

If the blood or vomit has not been in the garment too long, this soaking procedure should be sufficient to remove all or most of it. The suede or leather garment should then be rinsed in cool water mixed with a leather softener like Leather Soft. It should then be hung on a plastic hanger while wet and allowed to air dry at normal room temperature.

Caution: Do not dry with heat! Heat will cause the skin to become stiff and hard.

After the suede or leather has thoroughly dried, it may be leather drycleaned in drycleaning fluid charged with a special leather cleaning detergent, like Royaltone Detergent Plus Conditioner, to restore the soft, supple feel of the item.

Spraying and dying may be necessary

The clean, dry suede or leather can then be sprayed with a neutral spray product like Suede Nu made specifically for spraying naked leather and suede with a hand trigger spray bottle, to impart a more supple feel and to bring out the color. If the color is lighter because of the affect of the components in the blood or vomit, redying may be attempted by spraying the item with a special leather dye like Brit-N Dye mixed with a neutral spray product.

If soaking is not sufficient to remove the blood or vomit, then wetcleaning is the next procedure to follow. This means that you wash the suede or leather as follows:

Wetcleaning may be necessary

First, load the washer at half the recommended poundage capacity with dry suedes or leathers. If the suedes or leathers are color sensitive to water, use a color dye fixer like Leather Fix to set the dye.

Prewash for three to five minutes in cool water. Do not use hot water because it can damage the skins.

Next, add a specially formulated wetcleaning detergent plus conditioner like Prosuede Wet using two ounces per suede or leather garment loaded into the washer. Use only a biodegradable leather detergent with conditioner for wetcleaning suedes and leathers to avoid harmful effects.

Wash leathers for no more than five minutes and suedes for ten minutes or more in cool water.

Finally, add a specially formulated leather softener conditioner like Leather Soft in the final rinse cycle to condition and soften the suedes or leathers.

Rinse for three to five minutes with the leather softener in cool water at a temperature of 100°F or less.

Dry the wet suedes or leathers by either hanging them to air dry at ambient air temperature or tumble them in a cool dryer at a temperature of 100°F or less. Do not use heat to dry the wet suedes or leathers as heat will damage the wet skins.

The clean, dry suede or naked leather can then be sprayed with a neutral spray product like Suede Nu to further enhance the depth of color and softness.

If water repellency is desired, water repel with a specially formulated suede and leather repellent like Royalshield Suede and Leather Repellent.

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 session is scheduled for June 10-11 and Sept. 9-10 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.