Understanding Leather and Vinyl Care

With the onset of the Internet and eCommerce, it seems that everyone should, or already does own some leather and or Vinyl under garments. With these garments comes the not so usual need to take special care with them.

If you aren't familiar with how to care for your leather and vinyl lingerie, don't stop, read on. For the purpose of organization, I am going to layout the care of leather and vinyl into two paragraphs.

Leather Care

Caring for your leather isn't rocket science, but there are some steadfast rules you should follow that will ensure it will preserve its 'like new' quality. First, always store leather in a well ventilated area. Don't cramp it up in a garment bag either, leather needs to be able to breath in order to preserve its cleanliness. If you do need to wash your leather, don't throw it in the dryer when you are done! Allow it to air dry away from any heat source. If you aren't up to washing the entire garment, because you only have a small stain, use a leather spot remover as soon as possible. The sooner you get to the stain, the easier it will be to remove. If your stain is larger than a spot remover can handle, I recommend you take the garment to the dry cleaner. They clean leather for a living and will hand you back a garment that is as fresh and as clean as it can be.

Vinyl Care

Unlike leather, storing vinyl doesn't necessarily need a lot of ventilation (but it can't hurt) and it is actually recommended that you store your vinyl garment in a garment bag away from your other clothes.

If you happen to get a stain on your vinyl, don't panic. You can wash it in warm water with a very small amount of liquid detergent. When you feel you have washed it sufficiently, rinse it thoroughly with cool water and let it hang dry away from all major heat sources. It also isn't recommended to hang your garment directly in the sun.

Also, if you are washing two different colors of vinyl, don't wash them together. If you make this mistake, much like your everyday laundry, the dark colors will bleed into the lighter ones.

Both leather and vinyl can be polished if that is the desired look you are going for. Leather can be polished with a basic 'leather polish' and vinyl can be polished with a small amount of 'silicone spay.' Regardless of your need to clean leather or vinyl at the moment, everyone that owns either of these materials will one day be faced with the task of cleaning them.