my dry cleaner he cleans leather jackets

[kojax]

what does a dry cleaner do to your leather jacket for cleaning. is this a waste of money ????

 

[Carlos840]

For a start, i can't think of any damage or stain that you be helped by a dry cleaner.
IMO if water and light scrubbing doesn't do it, nothing will.
If it's a leather with a thick finish, like a motorcycle riding suit, you could go as far as using a soft scrubbing sponge and some soap, but i wouldn't do that on a vegetable tanned or a nice FQHH leather.

Also, I would never give a leather jacket to a dry cleaner, have heard to many horror stories.

If the problem is the lining, spot clean it, or hang it out to air, if it's real bad, get it relined.

 

[kojax]

thank you for the information

 

[Monitor]

That's what I've always been wondering about, too. Never quite could grasp why do they advertise they clean leather jackets when it clearly cannot be healthy for them.

 

[handymike]

 

[TREEMAN]

A dry cleaning store might advertise leather cleaning, but that doesn't mean there going to put it thru the same dry cleaning process as a shirt or suit. They might send it out to a leather cleaning co. and tack on a few bucks or saddle soap and condition it themselves.

 

[AdeeC]

I have had two leather jackets cleaned by a dry cleaner with excellent results recently. The first was an old never cleaned 1960's Schott fringed suede Rancher jacket which had stains, bad smells, grungy impacted suede texture and rumpled lining. Came out nice, most of the stains were gone and colour and texture freshened up considerably. The second was a black horsehide jacket with rumpled lining and bad musty smells also. The leather came back more shiny but refreshed almost like new. The lining in both jackets was nicely smoothed out and clean looking. The musty smells were gone. Because of the risks, the existing downsides have to be a significant annoyance before I would do it to my other jackets. Perhaps I have found a good local Chinese dry cleaner? Not only did a great job but charged me $AU60 for each when others quoted up to $180 each for the jobs. The high price was from a so-called leather expert. I doubt he could have done a better job.

 

[navetsea]

I'm afraid they would destroy any visible fade or patina by redye or even worse spray paint it as an "extra service"
some people also redye their fading jeans into spanking bluest of blue, made me wonder why don't they just buy polyester blue slacks instead.

 

[dan_t]

I have had an old jacket dry cleaned, with fantastic results.
I first approached them & asked them about what was involved & the process that they undertook. They were very proud of their work and actually walked me through their shop, showed me their machine & described the full process.
Evidently they needed to first of all fully rinse out & clean their dry cleaning machine. Then they run the machine with very specific & very gentle chemicals for the jacket alone. Finally, they then again need to fully rinse & clean the machine back for regular use.
This process meant they could not conduct any other dry cleaning whilst my jacket was being completed.
It was their confidence, knowledge & pride in their work that convinced me to give it a go.
All in all, I was glad I did.
But with any other dry cleaner, I'd be very, very careful as the potential for them to screw up a great jacket is huge.
By the way, there is nothing 'dry' about the dry cleaning process. Your jacket will be inside a massive washing machine, submerged in chemical cleaning fluid. Just another thing to think about......

 

[feltfan]

I had a light colored suede jacket cleaned by a dry cleaner (who specialized in leather) once.
Came out fine.

I would not bring CXL to a dry cleaner.

 

[Seb Lucas]

If I have to clean a jacket which is rare, I wash mine in the washing machine with washing liquid. Used this on horse hide, cowhide, goat and naked cowhide. Done it for twenty years. Always works out fine.

 

[Fonzie]

I have had two leather jackets cleaned by a dry cleaner with excellent results recently. The first was an old never cleaned 1960's Schott fringed suede Rancher jacket which had stains, bad smells, grungy impacted suede texture and rumpled lining. Came out nice, most of the stains were gone and colour and texture freshened up considerably. The second was a black horsehide jacket with rumpled lining and bad musty smells also. The leather came back more shiny but refreshed almost like new. The lining in both jackets was nicely smoothed out and clean looking. The musty smells were gone. Because of the risks, the existing downsides have to be a significant annoyance before I would do it to my other jackets. Perhaps I have found a good local Chinese dry cleaner? Not only did a great job but charged me $AU60 for each when others quoted up to $180 each for the jobs. The high price was from a so-called leather expert. I doubt he could have done a better job.

I had the same good results and for about the same price, AUD$65 when I sent an original 70's G-1 to a leather specialist dry cleaners.
The jacket cane back in much better condition than I sent it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Hypoxic]

If I have to clean a jacket which is rare, I wash mine in the washing machine with washing liquid. Used this on horse hide, cowhide, goat and naked cowhide. Done it for twenty years. Always works out fine.

The subject of this discussion is actually why I finally joined the lounge. I have an older A2 that I discovered in the closet had some serious mold due to the high humidity here in France. I followed all the advice I discovered here and got the leather cleaned up nicely. But the liner... eesh.. I always smell that faint rotten mold smell after everything I've done to it. I'm just about tempted enough to throw it in the washer to finally kill that smell. The cotton jacket that was next to the A2 in the closet had the same problem and after a good wash, was cured of it. So, I'm wondering... To wash, or not to wash?

 

[dan_t]

There are quite varying opinions on that one.
I threw a goatskin jacket into the washing machine once & it lost a lot of the colour & had accelerated wear on the high points.
I wouldn't ever do it again.

 

[Hypoxic]

There are quite varying opinions on that one.
I threw a goatskin jacket into the washing machine once & it lost a lot of the colour & had accelerated wear on the high points.
I wouldn't ever do it again.

That's the concern which has kept me from actually doing it.

 

[Seb Lucas]

Well I've washed maybe 20 jackets, some several times and they have never looked much different at all. They felt softer, easier to wear and certainly appeared cleaner, but I have seen no fading or shrinking. Ever.

 

[Seb Lucas]

There are quite varying opinions on that one.
I threw a goatskin jacket into the washing machine once & it lost a lot of the colour & had accelerated wear on the high points.
I wouldn't ever do it again.

You make that sound like a bad thing.

 

[dan_t]

It was Seb.
On top of that, the leather felt stiff and lifeless afterwards.
It was an Aero goat, so I know it wasn't cheap stuff. Even though it was washed on a cold cycle for delicates, it's as if the waxes were taken straight out of the hide. It was softish and supple before and stiff afterwards.
The jacket was on-sold about a month afterwards & the downward spiral for a search of the perfect replacement started. Two years & a number of jackets later, it continues......

 

[Doctor Damage]

I can never understand why some folks suggest putting a leather jacket into a washing machine. I realize some folks have gotten away with it, but geez, talk about rolling the dice!

 

[TREEMAN]

I can never understand why some folks suggest putting a leather jacket into a washing machine. I realize some folks have gotten away with it, but geez, talk about rolling the dice!

When I first heard of machine washing a leather jacket I thought it was a joke..........Can you imagine if you took your favorite leather to a professional leather cleaning service and they put it in the washing machine? Holy crap...I would definitely choke somebody!!