National Clothesline

Up to this point, we have described the pressing of suedes and leathers in great detail. Now to sum it all up, here are some key points to remember when pressing your own customers suede and leather garments:

1. Suedes are usually blown out on the form finisher and then if necessary, pressed on the hot head press to remove wrinkles. As in cloth cleaning, pressing will usually result in a higher quality finish on a suede garment. However, fur lined sheep (shearing) coats and fur coats of any kind should never be pressed or steamed.

2. Smooth leather garments should always be pressed on a hot-head press or a steam press equipped with a non perforated grid plate and hardly ever steamed on the form finisher. Pressing leather this way not only removes wrinkles but it also restores the shiny, slick, soft, supple feel that is so characteristic of smooth leather.

3. For best results, press suede and leather on a hot-head press or a steam press equipped with a hot head grid plate. The hot-head press should have a temperature not in excess of 250 °F (120°C). This is accomplished by regulating the incoming steam pressure to the press down to 50 psi (3.5 kg/cm2).

4. Use a medium to high head pressure setting. Hold the hot head press head down hard for five to ten seconds on each lay, with the vacuum on if necessary to prevent a build up of excessive heat in the skin. After each lay, brush the nap of suedes back and forth with the appropriate suede block brush to raise the nap.

5. Suedes may be pressed on a drycleaning steam press with no steam or for much better results, with steam if the steam pressure is regulated down to 40 psi (2.8 kg/cm2). This reduced steam pressure can be achieved by installing a by-pass steam regulator on the incoming steam line.

6. When pressing, press the collar and lapels first. Press the underside of the collar and lapels first. Then press the outside of the collar and lapels to be sure that there are no wrinkles. This requires one lay on each side of the collar and on each lapel. Then press the front, side, back, other side and other front, making several lays. Next press the sleeves and cuffs on each side using sleeve pads to prevent creasing. This procedure will require two to four lays per sleeve.

7. The hand iron is a miniature hot head press which can be used to press suedes and leathers if the temperature at the shiny face of the iron is set at the rayon setting of 250 °F (120°C). If steam is to be used, it should be regulated down to 40 psi (2.8 kg/cm2).

8. Finally, steam and press all loose linings as you would on a cloth garment. If the lining is attached at the bottom, hand iron the lining with minimum steam pressure of 40 psi (2.8 kg/cm2) and a low heat setting of 250 °F (120°C) which is the rayon setting on a steam electric iron. Garments with attached man-made fleece or pile (borg) linings do not require pressing except on cuffs, collars and pocket flaps.

Now that you are armed with the knowledge of how to safely press suedes and leathers, you should never again have to hand your customers a poorly pressed garment! Just follow this series of instructions and your customers will smile instead of frown because they will now be getting the quality of pressing they have come to expect from you on leathers!