Now that we’re in September, the weather starts to get a little tricky.  One week it’s warm and sunny and the next week it could be 30 degrees cooler.  To prepare for cooler temps, now is a good time to get out your leather clothing & boots and give them the once over.  Here are some of our tips on how to care for your leather items.

• If leather clothing gets wet, let it air-dry at room temperature. If a garment has a liquid stain, gently blot with a clean cloth.
• Store leather on wide wooden or plastic or padded hangers, as that will maintain the garment’s shape.
• Do not store leather in hot or damp areas. The environment must be controlled for temperature and humidity.
• Do not cover stored leather in plastic – instead, use a breathable cloth like a cotton sheet.
• Don’t allow leather to be exposed to direct sunlight for extended periods of time.

Classic Cleaners can help too. From August 27 to September 22, we’re offering a $10 discount on cleaning of leather items, including jackets, purses, boots, UGGs® and other garments.

We’ll carefully inspect the condition of your leather garments to determine the safest and most effective way to clean them, then use our system of carefully balanced detergents and solvents to make sure their natural oils are retained during the cleaning process. After cleaning, we reshape the garment to give it a natural fit, and if needed we dye it with a specially mixed blend of colors to give it a balanced, natural look.

So get those boots and jackets out of the closet, and if they don’t look their best, bring them to one of Classic Cleaners’ 17 locations or leave them for your route driver if you are part of our FREE pick up and delivery service to both home and office. We’ll have your leather items ready in time for you to wear as soon as the temperature starts to drop this fall.

- S.O.

As August ends and we start moving toward fall and soon winter, it starts getting to be time to break out the boots once again. After all, unless you’re a cowboy, farmer or soldier, many people’s boots hibernate throughout the summer months – particularly if they’re leather. Because of that, now is probably a good time for some tips on care of leather.

• If leather clothing gets wet, let it air-dry at room temperature. If a garment has a liquid stain, gently blot with a clean cloth.
• Store leather on wide wooden or plastic or padded hangers, as that will maintain the garment’s shape.
• Do not store leather in hot or damp areas. The environment must be controlled for temperature and humidity.
• Do not cover stored leather in plastic – instead, use a breathable cloth like a cotton sheet.
• Don’t allow leather to be exposed to direct sunlight for extended periods of time.

Classic Cleaners can help too. From August 28 to September 24, we’re offering a $10 discount on cleaning of leather items, including boots, jackets and other garments. We’ll carefully inspect the condition of your leather garments to determine the safest and most effective way to clean them, then use our system of carefully balanced detergents and solvents to make sure their natural oils are retained during the cleaning process. After cleaning, we reshape the garment to give it a natural fit, and if needed dye it with a specially mixed blend of colors to give it a balanced, natural look. So get those boots and jackets out of the closet, and if they don’t look their best, bring them to your favorite Classic Cleaners location. We’ll have your boots walking tall in no time.

Classic Cleaners’ newest service of boot cleaning and freshening came about because of the popularity of sheepskin  boots, including the designer boot line UGG®.   As we explained the other day in this blog, while dry cleaners don’t typically get involved with footwear, we wanted our foot-fashion conscious customers to feel clean and fresh when it comes to their boots as well as their clothes. 

sheepskin boots

It’s important to note that our boot service applies to all brands of tanned sheepskin boots, since we know many customers have chosen Ugg look-alikes made by other companies.  And, of course, that’s fine with us – so long as the care label gives the proper instructions.

Remember the old saying about imitation being the sincerest form of flattery? That’s all well and good, but when other manufacturers put an UGG label on their knockoff products, the makers of UGG® boots are more angry than flattered. “Our goal is to help our customers be aware of counterfeit footwear that is being sold to unsuspecting buyers as genuine UGG® Products.”

Reasons for the strong feelings expressed on uggaustralia.com include:

• Counterfeiting is illegal.
• Counterfeiting costs the economy an estimated $600 billion of revenue a year.
• Counterfeiters do not pay taxes nor provide fair wages or benefits to their employees.
• Counterfeiters are not accountable to human rights and environmental regulations.

Our Classic Cleaners customers tell us that their Ugg boots are a welcome relief from high heels, but at least one doctor says that the lesser quality versions of Uggs are hurting girls’ and young women’s feet.  Dr. Ian Drysdale, head of the British College of Osteopathic Medicine, told the Daily Mail that the knockoff boots lack the reinforced heels and insoles of genuine UGG®s. “With each step, the force falls towards the inside of the foot…that flattens the arch and makes it drop.”

“Saving one’s sole comes with a price,” quips stylist.com,” referring to the price of the real-deal UGG® boots. Whatever your choice of sheepskin boot, yours need never be cause for embarrassment or discomfort.  Think “Aahh”, never “Ugh!” when it comes to your boots with Classic Cleaners new boot-freshening treatment!

by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team