Project Description
An Investment
Leather is an investment. And your leather can last for your lifetime. Prevention is better than cure. So regularly give any item of your leather gear the proper treatment: clean, rub, condition, buff, air and store away. Make sure any product you use is suitable for the type and grain of leather you’re applying it to: check the label!
Storage
When you’re not wearing your gear, make sure it is stored in such a way that helps it to retain its shape. For example: jackets should be hung on sturdy hangers that support the jacket’s shoulders. Make sure you get hold of a proper wooden hanger with a wider edge to keep the shape. Jeans can be stored on appropriate hangers too. Wooden hangers are so much better than plastic ones.
You could also store your leather jeans, breeches and shirts flat. but just don’t put too much on top of them.
Spillages
If you’re leathers get wet (could be water, beer, or in a club - something a whole lot thicker) it helps if water/liquid isn’t allowed to dry on the leather. Never put an item away damp. Make sure it airs properly.
Airing
This is important. After a night out, or standing all day long at a leather pride, hang your leathers properly. Turn your shirt inside out and let your gear breath. You will have got hot. Body sweat will have been adsorbed into the leather. So making sure it is completely dry before hanging up or storing away will avoid future problems.
Typically shirts in the arm pits can get damaged from moisture; dampness can set in and before you know it the under arm area (where it meets the main torso part of the shirt) becomes wrinkled and can get brittle if not treated.
Kit
First of all you are going to need a kit. So, find a spare ‘biscuit tin’ (and a fairly large one too).
You will need FOUR (new) cloths.
The first one for dusting off and removing any dirt, your ‘dust cloth’.
A second one for applying the solution, your ‘cleaning cloth’.
The third one for rubbing off the solution, your ‘wash cloth’.
Fourth one for applying a conditioner, your ‘buffing cloth’.
You will also need a cleaning product (‘Solution’) and also a feeding product (‘Conditioner’) such as a cream, oil or polish.
Feeding
Most leather items are dyed with a pigment dye or soluble dyes (aniline leather). Your leather gear will benefit from “feeding”. Buy a good quality leather cleaner (‘solution’) and then a conditioner and apply it according to the manufacture’s instructions if you have them. If not, follow our guide on cleaning leather with saddle soap.
Dust-off
Make sure you rub down your gear first before cleaning, using your ‘dust off’. Ideally a ‘tack’ cloth, this will lift off any dust and bits of dirt on your leathers. If you don’t remove the dust, before cleaning, you’ll just be mixing it in to the top layer of your leather, leaving you with a disappointing result.
Cleaning
Apply the solution gentle with your second ‘cleaning cloth’, working your way around the garment in a logical manner so that you don’t miss any spots. Use the solution sparingly. Use small circular motions in a clockwise direction to work in the solution so it ‘gets into’ the leather. Allow to dry.
After the solution has settled in the leather, use your third ‘wash cloth’ (make sure it is damp, BUT not wet) to rub off the solution and remove any excess that may remain. Again, put some elbow grease into it! Use small circular motions as you did to apply the solution. Rinse your cloth regularly under a tap or in a bowl of water. You’ll be amazed what comes out! Again, squeeze/wring your cloth of excess water, whilst leaving the cloth damp.
Conditioning
Then, using your fourth cloth, the ‘buffing cloth’, you can really get your leathers to shine. There is a vast multitude of conditioning products available on the market, from oils to polishes to creams. Even a small amount of unfragranced baby oil worked in with a clean soft cloth can help - but use sparingly.
Which ever product your choose, vigorous application by you (or your boi or slave) is required in order to induce a shine that will attract the admiration of your leather brothers. Using your conditioner sparingly, work it into the leather using small circular clock wise motions. Rub in hard and vigorously. Allow to sink into the leather, by hanging up for several hours. Some guys actually leave their conditioned leather to hang for twenty four hours, before buffing up their leather. This approach allows the oils and conditioners to seep deep into your leather and get to work.
Buffing
So, again using the ‘clockwise’ method, rub hard to bring out the shine that is there, but so far, laying dormant. When you come to buffing up after a rest, do so with a fair bit of gusto. Then, a final stage, using long, pressured, quick strokes, starting buffing! If you don’t feel your heart rate raise you’re not buffing hard enough!! (You’ll need to shout this at your boi if you notice him not working heard enough whilst you read a newspaper or somehting). If you’re breaking into a little sweat with all this work, you know you’re doing it right.
Little Tricks for Gloves
Another little trick for gloves. Clean them whilst wearing them. Then use a small amount of an unfragranced, non-colour hand lotion and rubber this in whilst wearing both gloves. It really works!
See our more in depth article on using Saddle Soap to clean leather - click here
