National Clothesline

Let us now consider a familiar pressing tool: the hand iron. This commonly used piece of equipment is just as useful in pressing suede and leather as it is in pressing cloth garments made of fabrics like cotton, silk, wool, polyester, rayon, nylon, etc.

The hand iron is, in fact, a little hand-held hot head press, the best kind for pressing suedes and leathers. The secret to successfully pressing suede and leather with the hand iron is threefold.

First, never permit live steam from the hand iron to contact the suede or leather garment.

Second, never place a Teflon shoe or any other shoe on the hand iron when pressing suede and leather.

Third, always limit the temperature of the ironing face of the hand iron to 250° F maximum by setting the temperature control to the rayon/nylon setting, which is a low temperature setting.

If the hand iron is an all-steam iron, then limit the temperature of the iron face to 250°F by regulating the steam pressure coming into the iron down to no more than 55 psi of steam pressure.

Of course, the face of the iron should be kept clean and shiny at all times. The hand iron may be drawn across the suede or leather in the same way it is used on cloth fabric garments. On leather, it is used more like a hot head press by pressing it against the smooth leather.

The hand iron, when used as described, is an excellent tool for pressing suede and leather. It is especially handy for pressing parts of the garment that are difficult or impossible to do on a press. For example, you can press pocket flaps, shirt type cuffs, collars, hoods, lapels and sharply tapered ladies jackets to mention a few. Of course, the hand iron can be used to press an entire garment if no other finishing tools are available.

After pressing suede, the nap will be matted down and should be brushed up with the appropriate block brush that has either nylon or wire bristle. These brushes give the best results. After pressing and brushing, the suede should be placed on a hanger and bagged for the customer.

Leathers will take on a shine and slickness after pressing that they would not have if not pressed. After pressing, they can be placed on a hanger and bagged for sell-off.

Furs require no pressing or steam except to touch up the lining with the iron at the lowest temperature setting and pulled away from the skin if possible to keep the heat of the iron and minimum amount of steam required to press out the wrinkles away from the skin.

Now, in your own plant, you can touch up leather or suede that is wrinkled or has not been pressed to your satisfaction by your leather wholesaler. Touch it up with your hand iron as described above before you sell it off to your customer! Happy ironing!