How To Clean, Soften & Wrinkle-Free Your Leather Jacket

How To Clean, Soften & Wrinkle-Free Your Leather Jacket

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Keeping your leather jacket in top condition can sometimes take a lot of time and effort. But considering the benefits, the comfort, the look and the fabric’s longevity, we think it’s worth it. Nevertheless, if you need your designer leather jacket to last long, you will have to clean it periodically. After all, leather jackets are made to last and can be worn many times before needing another conditioning session.

clean a leather jacket

There are three main issues that your leather jacket might face. One, of course, after a long time, any garment or outfit will require some amount of cleaning. Two, leather jackets sometimes lose their softness. Its softness has a lot to do with the hide its leather is made from.

However, several other factors can also cause stiffness in your leather jacket. Three, and the final would be wrinkle problems. No one wants their leather jacket to appear too wrinkly. Two main reasons cause wrinkles and creases on genuine leather jackets. The obvious one is improper storage, and the other would be intensive use without proper care. 

Okay, now your jacket outfit might experience just some of these or probably all of it. So what?

We’ve all been there. Let’s take a look at some quick tricks and tips that can restore its near-original sheen. 

Clean

Clean: The most important rule. Never try to wash your leather jacket in a washing machine, nor use a dryer to dry it off. Both of these options will dry the life out of your jacket, shrink it badly, and lead it to develop cracks all over. Jackets nowadays aren’t majorly used for the purpose it was originally designed for. Hence, you mostly won't find the need to wash your jacket much.

You can wipe off a little dirt or stain with a clean, damp cloth. However, if you find your jacket to give out odor and its insides lined with body oil and sweat, you need to get it cleaned by a leather cleaning expert. This could happen more often if you got a ​​hooded leather jacket because it will touch your hair and neck if you use the hood part frequently.

Soften

Soften: As you might have experienced initially when you got your jacket new, the stiffness gradually wore off with time and usage. This is the first rule to keep your jacket well maintained and soft while it lasts. Wear it often. Storing it improperly in high temperatures will only dry and stiffen it out. After all, you got your jacket for what it is, so wear it every few weeks for an evening joy ride or a road trip. 

Now let’s look at cures if it has already lost its softness. There are several ways to rectify this. We will start with the simplest and work our way up to more complex and expensive ones. A traditional and the simplest method would be introducing your jacket to moisture. You can spray a fine mist if you got the gadgets or gently sprinkle water evenly. This won’t work if your jacket is waterproof.

In that case, the ideal method would be mildly rubbing leather-friendly oil in a circular motion, like applying moisturizer to your skin. You can use commonly available oils such as coconut oil, castor oil or mink oil. You can also use alcohol and petroleum jelly to do the same. A much more straightforward solution would be to use leather servicing products such as leather conditioners, sprays or balms. These will enrich your leather products well and help them retain their sheen for a long time. However, this might be a more expensive option than water or oil.

Wrinkle Free

Wrinkle Free: Making your jacket wrinkle-free will mostly require you to do a couple of the tricks mentioned above, such as spraying alcohol or introducing it to fine mist and wearing it. You can also use a garment steamer in a medium-low setting to effectively iron out the wrinkles.

 

If not that, you could pretty much use any steam source such as your washroom. Just wear it and spend time inside while letting the hot water run filling the room with steam. If you are only required to straighten out just a small area of your jacket, you might as well simply place some heavy flat object on it. You can also straighten out a single large bend by gently pulling your garment while it’s hung up in the closet. Remember not to overdo any of this, as it might worsen the damage.
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