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PARKWAY | Leather, Suede & Fur Care
Leather & Suede Garments
Genuine suede and leather requires special processing to preserve finish, feel and color. Therefore, you should take your garment to a professional suede and leather cleaner equipped for this type of cleaning. Parkway works directly with a local company that has specialized in Leather, Suede, and Fur care for many years. Our unique relationship with this company allows us to offer the finest  services to our clients. Even in situations where your "normal" cleaner is unable to remove stains from delicate skins, Parkway can often provide more successful results.
It is important to know that when cleaning skins, all pieces of a multi-piece outfit must be processed at the same time since there cannot be a guarantee that they will match after cleaning if processed seperately.
Although we inspect your garments thoroughly before processing, we appreciate you advise us if you have particular stains or spots of concern, whether visible or not. This provides us with the inforamtion to determine the best process to perform on your garment.
Most leather and suede garments will clean beautifully when processed by a professional suede and leather cleaner. However, there are some exceptions, due to the quality and/or condition of the skins. The information below will educate you on conditions that may arise from cleaning or could cause limited success when cleaning suede and leather garments.
Color Changes:
Leathers and suedes that have been processed and refinished occasionally vary in color and finish from the original garment for one or more of the following reasons:
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Basic Dye: The penetration of dye varies from skin to skin. Some dyes penetrate the skins, coloring them uniformly throughout. Others show resistance and only dye the surface of the skins. In other cases, the dyes used are solvent soluble, resulting in excessive dye loss during the accepted cleaning process. It is extremely difficult to restore skins dyed with solvent soluble dyes to their original color. |
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Oxidation & Sunfading - Some colors tend to fade and oxidize during normal wear or storage. It is generally impossible to restore blues, greens, aquas, and salmon pinks to their original brightness. However, depending on the degree of fading, the color loss can be masked to some degree by retinting. The original color, however, may not be restored completely. |
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Smooth Leathers: "Finished and Unfinished or Naked Skins":Finished skins have a sprayed-on leather finish, which is sometimes lost during the accepted cleaning process. In those cases, the garments must be refinished to cover fading, stains, etc. Because of the number of colors available and the variations between them, there could be a slight difference from the original color. Unfinished or naked skins are those in which the dyes penetrate the skins, there are no surface finishes applied. Generally, these skins must be re-dyed after the accepted cleaning process to restore faded colors, cover stains, etc. In these cases, a surface dye is generally applied which may change the feel and appearance of the leather as well as add stiffness to skins. |
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Antiqued Leathers: An antique finish will not be exactly the same after cleaning. A new finish must be applied after processing, which will not duplicate the original shading and patterns exactly. The color and feel of the leather may change slightly. |
Spots and Stains:
Any protein stain, such as blood, egg, or milk, has an affinity to leathers. These types of stains are usually difficult to remove by the normal spotting and cleaning procedure. There is always the possibility of color removal or skin injury.
Dye Transfer:
Most manufacturers generally use colorfast dyes when matching suede or leather trim to cloth garments. However, when dark suede or leather is used with light colored cloth, or highly contrasting shades of suede and leather are adjacent to each other in one garment, there is always the possibility of dye transfer or color bleeding from the dark color to the light.
Skin Defects:
Many skins contain defects caused by lice, grub infestations, scars caused by wounds, etc. The manufacturer is able to mask many of these defects by treating the skins with oils, dyes or pigments. The masking dyes are not colorfast and, therefore, fade during processing. When this happens, the skin defects become very noticeable. They appear as a light area on suede and a dark area on grain leather.
Belly Wrinkles & Thin Skins:
Belly wrinkles and thin skins are inherent damage. Wrinkles that stop at the seams of specific panels are called "belly wrinkles". Thin skins (split or shaved skins) usually have unevenness in the nap. When the skins are cleaned the surface tissues are exposed and the belly wrinkles and thin weak areas become evident. Holes can develop easily in these areas during normal wear and cleaning.
Shrinkage:
Suedes and leathers have a natural tendency to draw up slightly and contract as the skins dry out and natural oils are lost. In most cases, proper cleaning restores most oils and extends the life of the garment. Slight shrinkage is eased by body heat during wearing and the garment will take on body conformity. In other cases, depending on the degree of shrinkage, the garment can be satisfactorily stretched by a special processing technique.
Pigskin:
Pigskin does not respond to cleaning and spotting as well as other leathers. It has very little nap and varies from skin to skin in color and texture. Because of the fiber structure of the skin, spots and stains soak deeply into the skin and are very difficult to remove. The types of cement used in seams and hems of some pigskins bleed through to the surface and leave dark marks and stains which are difficult to remove.
Split Cowhide (Bush Coats):
Split cowhide has a very rough texture and a heavy fullness of hand when compared with other leathers. It loses its color and oils more readily during cleaning than other leathers causing a slightly harsher feel. Because of the rough texture these skins are very difficult to retint.
Foreign Tanned Garments:
Certain garments tanned in foreign countries have been tanned and dyed by processes that are not always compatible with our cleaning and refinishing procedures and/or chemicals. Most foreign skins are top dyed for a brighter appearance. These vivid colors tend to fade and bleed easily during normal processing. These garments tend to react more adversely to cleaning and refinishing than domestically manufactured garments.
Gloves:
The linings in most leather and suede gloves are glued to the inside of the fingers. In most cases, the cleaning solvent will dissolve the glue causing the linings to come loose.
Plastics & Vinyls:
Plastics and vinyl are manufactured with many different formulas by hundreds of different manufacturers. Most of these materials will dryclean satisfactorily under controlled conditions. However, even when handled carefully, the material may shrink, stiffen and peel when exposed to certain chemicals used in drycleaning.
Fur Garments
 Professional fur cleaning and glazing is recommended yearly, usually before storage. The fur cleaning process involves agitation of your pelt in a mixture of solvent and finely ground corncobs, powdered wood, or cellulose products, such as nutshells. The solvent contains special silicones which give the fur a fluffy, uniform, soft appearance, and sheen. This technique is performed specifically to simulate the natural care of fur and is NOT perfomed by your average cleaner in their solvent. After a pelt is cleaned properly it must undergo the glazing procedure which is the techique of applying a liquid compound to the fur, then passing a heated rotary wheel over the fur. Through heat and friction, the fur, including the guard hairs, is polished, returning the original luster to the fur. The static electricity created straightens the hair, remove tufting and matting. The final phase of finishing is blowing the fur with an air gun.
Storage requirements for a fur are more demanding than just home storage. It is important to control temperature and humididty levels during the summer months to preserve the fur. Furs are stored in "cold" months to preserve the fur. Furs are stored in "cold" storage. The typical conditions are approximately 40 degrees F and 55% relative humidity. It is important to keep the fur cool so that the skin does not dry out, crack, and lose its suppleness. The cool temperature also maintains the glazed or finish put on the fur during cleaning.
It has been found that cold storage alone will not kill moth larvae, although it will keep them from causing any damage during storage. There is no doubt that protection against injury by insects of all kinds is assured by proper cold storage, since at a temperature of 40 degrees F, life is held dormant.
Humidity is one of the most important factors to consider in the storage of furs. Excessive humidity manifests itself in musty or moldy odor, and under some conditions, in actual growth of mildew, in extreme cases, the pelt of the fur can rot and the hair drop off. Even where the excessive humidity is not high enough to cause mildew, or where the temperature is too low to permit its growth, damage can occur. The pelt will absorb moisture from the air, possibly resulting in shrinkage, distortion, and stiffening of the pelt upon removal of the garment from storage.
Low humidity is equally harmful since dry air can draw moisture and natural oils from the pelts and fur hairs, resulting in deterioration.
While in storage the fur must receive proper ventilation and air circulation. The furs are adequately spaced to allow air flow through and around the garments. Without circulating air, furs dry out and the tips become crushed and eventually break off.
Consumers should verify that off-site storage is covered under their homeowner's insurance policy before sending fur garments to the vault. While most reputable fur storage facilities cover damage in case of fire or other natural disasters, it is important that the value of your fur is established and reported to your insurance company.
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