Dealing with bad spots and stains
One of the more common conditions of use found in suede and leather garments is
bad spots and stains.
Following my previously described procedure for proper handling of suede and
leather when presented at your counter, examine the garment carefully. One of
the things to look for is bad spots and stains.
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If the bad spots and stains are on a painted leather, they will only be on the
surface of the impervious lacquer finish.
If this is the case, the spot or stain would normally be easily removed by any
drycleaner by utilizing safe spotting products designed specifically for use on
suede and leather such as Royaltone’s Spot Wiz-Wet, Spot Wiz-Dry And Spot Wiz-VDS.
Do not use spotting chemicals that are made for use on cloth garments as these
chemicals will damage the suede and leather garments.
Normally all that is required to remove spots and stains on a painted leather is
Spot Wiz Wet, a wet side spotting product designed to safely remove all water
soluble spots and stains from the surface of the lacquer and Spot Wiz Dry, a
dry side spotter to remove oil, paint, grease, ink or cosmetic stains without
damaging the skin.
If the bad spots or stains are on a suede, naked leather or cuir savage leather,
and they are to be drycleaned, the same spotting procedure should be followed.
However, the results may not be as complete, since these spots and stains are
soaked down into the skin and are not just on the surface as is the case of the
painted leather. These spotting products will soak into the skin to loosen the
bad spots and stains and will only be removed by leather drycleaning.
If the bad spots and stains are to be wetcleaned, they can be safely removed
with safe leather wetcleaning products such as Royaltone’s Leather Magic, Spot Magic and Ink Magic stain removers.
Non-oily bad spots and stains on suedes and leathers are more likely to be
successfully removed by wetcleaning, while oily bad spots and stains are more
likely to be successfully removed by drycleaning.
Bad spots and stains should be pointed out to the customer at the counter and
the customer should be advised that the stain may be set and that it may not be
possible to remove it using techniques and products that are safe on the color
and safe on skin. By following this procedure the customer will not be
disappointed if the safe spot removal techniques are not 100 percent
successful.
A familiar approach
I am sure this approach to bad spots and stains is familiar to you since the
same situation may exist on cloth garments where certain spots are set and
difficult or impossible to remove.
The chance of success without causing damage to the garment is greater for cloth
garments because spot removers made for use on cloth can be used while they
should not be used on suede and leather garments.
Specifically, protein spotting agents and heavy-duty grease spot removers can
cause problems on skins that they do not cause on cloth.
This can be readily understood when you realize that the dyes used to color
suedes, naked leathers and cuir savage leathers are organic in nature and will
be removed by protein spotting agents and the paints used on painted leathers
are lacquers that will be removed by heavy-duty POG spotters made for use on
cloth items.
Avoid unhappy customers
The application of a protein spotter which is intended to remove organic stains
such as milk, food, etc., in cloth items, will also remove the organic dye in
the leather along with the stains. This doesn’t make the customer happy, especially if you are not equipped to restore the dye
that was removed.
The same is true of heavy duty paint, oil and grease spotters. They work well on
removing paint and, if used on a painted leather or cuir savage leather, they
will do a good job of removing the lacquer finish and the shine from these
leathers, which will make the customer unhappy unless you are in a position to
restore the color and shine to these articles.
Just as in cloth, unremovable spots and stains in suede and leather may remain
after the color and finish are gone.
In the case of leather, if properly equipped, the leather cleaner in certain
instances, can cover up unremovable spots and stains by using a pigmented
leather paint. However, this may change the look, feel and character of the
leather and that, too, may not make the customer happy.
Get a release and get advance payment
In any event, anyone accepting suede and leather garments with bad spots and
stains should explain the probabilities for successful removal and/or covering
up of bad spots and stains to the customer.
In addition, you should obtain a customer release, if such spots and stains are
to be treated with anything beyond the safe suede and leather spot removers.
Furthermore, if the customer does agree to the more risky treatments, it would
be advisable to request an advance payment sufficient to cover the cost of
doing the work as it is possible that the customer will not accept or pay for
the garment after expensive processing.
