National Clothesline

Drycleaning suede and leather can now be done as easily as drycleaning cloth, thanks to the development of modern high-tech detergent plus conditioners.

These can be be added to any drycleaning fluid, including perc and petroleum to chemically condition the drycleaning fluid to stabilize the dyes in the skins and ensure that the cleaning fluid does not cause color loss and does not stiffen or dry out the skins of suede, leather or fur items as it otherwise would.

The high-tech detergent plus conditioner, when added to the drycleaning fluid in the proper proportion, will stabilize the dye color and preserve the softness of the skin of any suede, leather, fur or trimmed cloth item being drycleaned. At the same time, it provides the detergent blend required to loosen and suspend soil, solubilize moisture and remove surface soils in any drycleaning machine.

Therefore, once the detergent plus conditioner is mixed with the drycleaning fluid, drycleaning suede, leather, furs or cloth trimmed items becomes essentially the same as drycleaning cloth items.

However, there are a few differences between procedures followed for drycleaning cloth items and the procedures required when drycleaning leather items that must be dealt with.

One difference is in the concentration of the detergent plus conditioner that is required for drycleaning suede, leather and fur. The amount of the detergent conditioner required increases above that required for drycleaning cloth items in order to stabilize the color of the suede or leather especially those dyed with deeper, darker, richer and brighter colors.

Another difference is in the loading of the drycleaning machine. The dry weight of suede, leather or fur items in a load should not normally exceed one-half the rated load capacity of the drycleaning machine. The reason for this is that when the skins of suede and leather items become soaked with drycleaning fluid they become twice as heavy as cloth that is soaked with drycleaning fluid.

Another difference between drycleaning cloth and drycleaning suede and leather is the run-time of the drycleaning cycle. The run-time for slick leathers and all furs is much shorter than for cloth, suede or naked skin leathers. This difference in run-time is necessary to prevent losing the surface finish of slick leathers and to protect the delicate skins of furs from being damaged by mechanical action in the cleaning wheel. A three- to five-minute maximum drycleaning run time is all that is needed to clean slick leathers and furs without damage.

Still another difference between drycleaning cloth and drycleaning suede, leather and fur is in the drying time and the drying temperature. The drying time is considerably longer for suede and leather than it is for cloth because the skins are thicker and hold more drycleaning fluid than cloth. The drying temperature should be set lower for white and light colored suede, naked leather and fur.

A lower drying temperature is necessary for these items to prevent oxidation or yellowing that would otherwise be caused by excessive heat in the drying cycle. For darker colors a drying temperature of 120°F to 150°F can be used to safely speed up drying.

Yet another difference between drycleaning cloth and drycleaning suede and leather is in filtration.

There is a large amount of suede lint released from suede and leather items during the drycleaning process. This suede lint must be intercepted and collected before it reaches the filter if a serious reduction in filter life is to be avoided.

Some kind of a lint filter must be installed between the cleaning wheel and the main filtration unit.

It can be as simple as a fine nylon mesh insert placed in the basket of the button trap or an in-line lint filter as is frequently used to catch lint before it reaches the main filter unit in cloth drycleaning. Either one will accomplish the job, but they must be cleaned frequently without fail, usually every other load of suede and leather drycleaned.