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Prespotting suede and leather is different from prespotting cloth in three important ways. First of all, live steam is never used when spotting suede, leather or fur. Second, crusty spots and stains are scraped from the surface of suede by surface by abrasion. Third, spot removers and batch additives that are made for use on cloth are not to be used on suede, leather or fur as they can cause color loss and skin damage.

You should use only safe spot removers and batch additives which have been specifically formulated for use on suede, leather and fur, like water based spot removers and batch additives, that eliminate the dangers of color loss and stiffening of the skins when dissolving liquid spots and stains on suede, leather, fur and cloth combinations.

Live plant steam is never used on suede, leather or fur skins because this high pressure steam will cause the skins to draw up and shrivel up in almost every case.

This occurs whenever a skin is wet with water and then has heat applied to it. This is what occurs whenever normal plant steam is applied to the skins used to make suedes, leathers,furs and cloth combinations. Under certain conditions, steam with a pressure of under 40 psi can safely be used on some suedes and leathers.

Prespotting suede is accomplished by using the following three methods: surface cleaning by scraping spots with an abrasive strip or block; dissolving spots with specially formulated liquid spot removers, and; removing heavy ground in soil in the drum by using a high-tech soil release additive.

Prespotting smooth leather and fur is accomplished only by dissolving spots with specially formulated leather liquid spot removers.

Heavy ground-in soil is removed from smooth leather in the drum by using a leather soil release batch additive. Abrasives are never used on smooth leathers or furs.

Surface cleaning is used to scrape crusty spots off suedes by abrasion and is accomplished by using a variety of abrasive spotting materials.

Removing spots by dissolving them is accomplished with color safe and skin safe Leather liquid spot removers.

Heavy ground-in soil and stains can be removed in the cleaning machine with a leather soil release batch additive.

Leather liquid spot removers and leather soil release batch additives are safe because they are specifically formulated for use on suede, leather, fur and cloth trimmed with suede or leather and will not cause color loss or cause the skin to become stiff, hard or brittle.

Liquid spot removers and batch additives that are made for use on cloth items will usually cause color loss and damage to leather.

Liquid spot removers and batch additives that are formulated for use only on cloth items are not to be considered safe for use on suede, leather or fur items.

Abrasive spot removers can be used to surface clean or scrape off crusty spots, surface stains and ball point pen marks from suedes. The most common surface cleaners used to remove crusty spots and surface stains by abrasion include the following: the abrasive strip; the abrasive block; the steel wool pad; and the sand blaster.

These materials are never to be used on smooth leather. they are for use only on suedes and then only with considerable care.

Liquid spot and stain removers should be specially formulated to safely dissolve and loosen spots, stains and soil from suede, leather, fur and cloth combinations.

Leather liquid spot removers fall into the following two categories:

1. Those for removing wet side liquid caused spots, stains and soil by using a leather wet spotter or by using a leather batch additive.

2. Those for removing dry side spots, stains and soil by using a leather POG spotter and a leather volatile dry spot remover.

A leather wet spot remover is formulated for use on suede, leather and trimmed cloth to remove water soluble spots, stains and soil without removing dyed-in color or hardening the skin. The leather wetside spot remover breaks up water soluble stains and loosens water soluble ground-in soil. It is made for use on suede and leather as a spray prespotter so that prespotted items can be cleaned either wet or dry.

The leather spray prespotter should be applied to suede, leather and cloth combinations prior to cleaning.

A leather soil release batch additive is a soil and stain remover that can be poured into or injected into the cleaning machine that has cleaning fluid to which a special leather cleaning detergent plus conditioner has already been added and is loaded with soiled suedes, leathers and cloth combinations.

The leather soil release will cause the soil to be released from the heavily soiled suede, leather and cloth combination garments in the cleaning machine.

The soil is released while the machine does all the work that would otherwise have to be done on the spotting board and without causing color loss, dye bleed or stiffening of the skins.

The leather soil release batch additive works most effectively when the cleaning machine is run on batch for at least the first five minutes of the cleaning cycle.

This permits the soil release to work in concentrated form with minimal dilution by the cleaning fluid to maximize the soil release process during the cleaning cycle with the result that all or most of the soil will be removed during the first cleaning cycle.

This greatly reduces the amount of time and effort that would otherwise be spent on the spotting board trying to loosen ground-in heavy soil covering extensive areas of the item. Using the soil release batch additive is like having an extra worker helping with the spotting in the cleaning room.

The leather POG oily-type spot remover is used to remove paint, oil, grease, ink, shoe polish, tar and wax from suedes, leathers, furs and cloth-trimmed items.

The leather volatile dry spot remover is used to remove glue, glue bleed, latex paint, oxidized oils and cosmetics from suedes, leathers, furs and cloth combination items.

Leather dry spot removers are specially formulated for use on suede, leather, fur and trimmed cloth to remove solvent soluble spots, stains and soil without removing color or hardening the skin. Two leather dry spot removers are made for use on suede and leather. They are the oily type and the volatile type. Both can be safely applied to suedes, leathers and cloth before cleaning and they can be cleaned anytime after the application. They can also safely be used on cloth trimmed with suede, leather and fur.

The leather liquid spot remover effectiveness will be enhanced by applying mechanical action on the spotting board utilizing a bone or metal scraper or spatula and by the use of two special suede and leather spotting brushes. Plant steam is never used when spotting suede or leather.

Spotting agents and batch additives other than those mentioned above are never to be used on suede, leather or fur as they may cause color loss, color bleed and damage to the skin.