National Clothesline

The Royaltone process for wetcleaning suedes and leathers consists of the following steps: acceptance and inspection, stain removal, classification of loads for wetcleaning, procedures for wetcleaning, drying methods and finishing techniques.

Acceptance and inspection

The suede and leather garments accepted at the front counter should be inspected before wetcleaning for conditions of use, conditions of manufacture and natural conditions — exactly the same way that garments are examined for drycleaning.

Conditions of use or abuse include wear and tear. Conditions of manufacture include trims and buttons. Natural conditions include tick bites, belly wrinkles, vein marks and scars. These conditions will be described later in detail under the heading of accepting leather and suede.

Stain removal on suedes and leathers is very different from stain removal on cloth items.

First of all, live steam is never used when spotting suede or leather.

Next, stain removers formulated for use on cloth items should not be used on any suede or leather item as they will cause color loss and damage the skin.

Finally, crusty stains are removed from suede by surface cleaning using abrasive techniques or, in other words, by scraping the stain off surface of the suede.

While many water soluble stains on suedes and leathers can be removed in the wetcleaning process, there are some stains that may require prespotting to dissolve them.

As in drycleaning suedes and leathers, traditional wet side stain removal chemicals should not be used as they will adversely affect the color and suppleness of the skins.

Use only a biodegradable wetcleaning prespotter designed specifically for use on suedes, leathers and cloth trim, like Royaltone’s Leather Magic. It is not necessary to flush the prespotter from the skins before wetcleaning.

Solvent-soluble stains on suedes and leathers must be removed before wetcleaning. Stains like paint, oil, grease and ink on suedes and leathers require water soluble stain removal products that are formulated specifically to flush out in the washing machine without removing color, finish or suppleness of the skins.

Typical oily type paint, oil, grease and oil stain removers, made for use on cloth in drycleaning or laundry should not be used on suedes and leathers.

Use only a water soluble non-oily paint, oil, and grease stain remover like Royaltone’s Spot Magic and a non-oily ink stain remover like Royaltone’s Ink Magic, both of which are designed for use on suedes, leathers and trimmed cloth in wetcleaning.

It is not necessary to flush the spot magic non-oily POG or the ink magic non-oily ink remover from the skins before wetcleaning as they will rinse out in the washer.

Apply a prespotter like Leather Magic to water soluble stains using a hand sprayer or an air pressure sprayer. Work the stained area with a brush or a spatula as necessary. Wetclean to flush out. Do not use any steam!

For solvent soluble stains like paint, oil, grease and ball point pen ink, first wet the suede or leather thoroughly with a wetcleaning prespotter like Leather Magic. Then apply the non-oily water soluble POG, like Spot Magic. Work the stained area with a brush or a spatula as necessary. Rinse out by wetcleaning immediately. Do not use any steam!

For most types of ink stains, first wet the suede or leather thoroughly with a wetcleaning prespotter like Leather Magic.

Then apply the non-oily water soluble ink remover like Ink Magic. Work the ink stained area as needed with a spatula or a brush. Rinse out by wetcleaning immediately. Do not use any steam!

On suedes (never on leathers), crusty stains can be removed by first surface spotting. Scrape or abrade the stains from the surface using an abrasive material like Royaltone’s Abrasive Strip. Scraping or abrading crusty stains from the surface of suedes is called surface spotting or abrasive spotting.

The abrasive material used is called the abrasive spotter. It is a special emery cloth strip with a specific type and size of grit that will remove the crusty stain without harming the suede surface.

To scrape crusty stains from the surface of suedes, apply pressure to the abrasive spotter as it is scraped back and forth across the stain several times in all directions. This is usually enough to break through the crust of the stain.

Then, any staining material that has soaked down into the skin may be removed by dissolving it with the water soluble suede and leather stain removers as explained above.

Prespotting: Apply wetcleaning prespotter, brush and wetclean.

P.O.G. spotting: Apply wetcleaning prespotter, then apply the water soluble non-oily POG, brush and wetclean.

Ink spotting: Apply wetcleaning prespotter, then apply non-oily ink remover, like ink magic, brush