How to clean and freshen up your leather jacket

We don’t buy genuine leather clothes often, but we do cherish them. If there is a stain we want to remove, how do you do it as soon as possible? We present some useful tips for those who prefer time-honored methods and those who want to save money or try to clean the leather themselves.

Regular care for a leather jacket

Regular care is provided by ordinary soapy water with a little ammonia (liquid ammonia) added to it. If you see that it’s time to clean the jacket, then wipe it with a cloth soaked in that solution. This is the best way to clean the jacket at home if there are no tough stains. At the end of the cleaning, the soap solution should be rinsed off with clean water and wiped. Then apply castor oil or a special cream.

Very soft and thin leather can be wiped with a dry sponge or a flannel cloth.Don’t clean leather clothes too often, as you can damage the top layer of the leather or make the leather change its original color.

Apart from dust and mud splatter, there are more stubborn stains, that are hard to avoid. The most affected areas are those where the jacket is most in contact with the body or rubs objects around us. First of all, it is a collar, sleeves, and a place around the pockets.

How to deal with greasiness at jacket

The skin on a person’s neck is oily and sweaty, so the collar of any clothing often becomes dirty. The shirt can be washed in a washing machine, but it does not work for a leather jacket. You should send the jacket to a dry cleaner or clean it with alcohol at home.

• First, the collar is straightened and wiped with a cotton ball dipped in alcohol.
• Then apply some lemon juice.
• At the last stage, rub with a glycerin solution.

Clean the place around pockets and cuffs the same way, as well as other greasy areas.

Note that if you wear a scarf or neck scarf, and wipe the collar once a week with soapy water and dry it, the collar would not get dirty quite so quickly.

Removing tough stains from jacket

It is important to consider how to clean a leather jacket at home if it has hard-to-remove stains. Stains cannot be removed by soapy water, so the leather should be cleaned by some other products.

Oil, paint, mildew

Oil can be removed with a solvent, one example is gasoline. You can use only pure, preferably aviation gasoline. If you do not have it, and you can not buy it anywhere, then use turpentine, which is sold in construction stores, in the department of household goods, and in the markets. You can clean the jacket from greasy spots with it.

The same products are suitable for cleaning the jacket if it has stains of paint or mildew. After using the solvent, you need to soften and moisten the leather with glycerin, castor oil or a special cream for leather clothes.

Some particularly soft leather articles cannot be cleaned with gasoline. The oily spots can be removed with chalk or starch. One of these products can be mixed with water until a dense paste forms, and smeared onto the stain. Then leave for a couple of hours and wash off with a sponge. If it doesn’t work, send the clothes to a dry cleaner.

Be careful using a solvent, and be sure to try it on a small obscured area first.

To remove the smell quickly, hang the clothes outside (balcony, yard, under the canopy), and the then apply some lemon juice.

Pen inks and salt stains on leather

Everybody should know how to clean the marks of a ballpoint pen from the leather jacket at home. People who work in offices often carry a pen in their pockets, for those who have children, this problem is also familiar. One day you will look at your jacket, and notice some ink strips on it, scribbles and dots. No one knows how they appeared but they did catch your eye. In this situation, the jacket should be cleaned with alcohol.

If there are salty stains appeared on a jacket, it should be cleaned with table vinegar. Put some on a cotton ball, and wipe the jacket with it. Salty stains will be washed off, and the leather will shine. You can also use a liquid soap solution, carefully wiping applying with the cotton ball and wiping the stains.

Washing the lining

It is rather difficult to wash the lining at home. On the one hand, the leather cannot be washed, on the other hand, the lining should be washed properly. Here are a few recommendations:

• Turn the jacket inside out, and separate the lining with your fingers.
• Soak the lining and put some soap on the stains. It is even better to use laundry detergent solution at home.
• Wash the stains, and rinse with clean water. To make washing process easy, you can use a brush for clothing with a soft pile, or a sponge. They are very effective in soaping the fabric.
• Rinse the lining fabric carefully with water slightly acidified with vinegar. It is necessary to use a clean cloth and wipe the lining.

After the washing, hang the jacket on a hanger and let it dry. Wearing damp leather articles is not a good idea because they can stretch.

Product	Action
Soap and ammonia	Eliminates light stains
Alcohol (ethanol)	Cleans greasy places, traces of ballpoint ink, gel pen, marker
Pure gasoline, turpentine	Removes oily stains from dense, thick leather
Chalk, starch	Removes oily stains from thin leather
Glycerin, castor oil, petroleum jelly	Soften the leather
Vinegar	Removes salt stains
Orange peel	Brightens the color
Lemon juice, egg white	Enhances the gloss and smoothness of the jacket

Home-made products for a leather jacket

It’s not enough just to clean the leather jacket at home, you still need to give it a sheen. You can use one of the following ways:

Rubbing with lemon juice. The lemon is cut and the leather is rubbed with a fresh cut. It might take several lemons if the jacket is large. The juice not only adds shine but also cleans small stains.

You can use an egg white at home. It is whipped and applied with a swab, and then, without waiting for it to dry, it is wiped off with a soft cloth. The egg white fills the microcracks, adds shine and freshens the jacket.

Rub the jacket with fresh cut onions. After that, polish it with a flannel cloth.

After the main cleaning, use an orange peel. The leather is rubbed by the outer side of the peel, which makes it shiny and adds a depth to the color. This method is only suitable for dark leather.

Note that nowadays there are quite a lot of special products for leather care. When buying a jacket, ask the seller how to clean it, and do not forget to ask about leather care products. You can use them to sun proof, restore color, and remove stains from the leather.

Apply a special product so that the jacket will not get wet and cannot burn out in the sun. Clean it regularly, dry and air the clothes, hanging it on hangers. Do not wear expensive leather clothes while performing physical work, and then you will be able to keep it in perfect condition for a long time.