Part III in my series on leather care focuses on the proper way to store your leather apparel items particularly the ones which typically need to be racked. These include pants, jackets, teddies, harnesses, corsets or other wearable apparel items. I exclude shoes because caring for shoes take a different approach using different products, so the topic deserves another article. Why do I call it “caching” and not simply “storing”? Well, if you’ve read my previous articles (which really are prerequisite to this article) on conditioning and cleaning, it is purely for the aesthetics of the alliteration. (in other words, it just sounds better!).
The word “cache” (at once both a noun and a verb) is a French Canadian term used in the early eighteenth century by trappers to refer to a “hiding place for stores” and today means the same thing as “to store” or “a store of…”
This article is shorter than my articles on cleaning and conditioning because there are just a few pointers you need to know to properly store. So while last in my series, the topic of storing leather apparel is by no means the least important in terms of its care.
- Store your leather apparel item in a well ventilated area, outside of any garment bag or covering. Your garment needs to breathe, just like your skin! This probably the most common mistake as many other garments made of other materials are typically stored inside garment bags. Leather is different!
- Keep the environment where your garment is stored cool, dry and preferably dark, away from sunlight. Sunlight will cause the leather’s color to fade. And, humidity is moisture, and moisture will ruin leather.
- Give your garment a couple of inches of breathing room on each side if you are racking it with other garments.
- Hang your garment. Use a plastic or padded hanger or a wide wooden hanger when hanging leather. This will help it keeps its shape. Thin metal hangers will warp and dent your garment, and will cause it to lose its overall shape.
0 comments:
Post a Comment