Coat cleaning

Grouchy

Sorry if this is in the wrong section...
I have a wool coat which has a leather collar. It has been put away for a while and now I want to revive it without taking it to the dry cleaners (it's not dirty just 'stale' and slightly grubby from lack of use).

Had a little search about and it seems one solution to refreshing the leather collar which has I think some staining (skin oils?) is to use something like a drop of fairy worked it with a damp cloth. Is this the best way to get it back clean? Then a dot of olive oil to make it supple.

The material I'm not sure about, any ideas? The fabric is good quality wool.

Thanks for any suggestions

trailingspouse

Why so keen to avoid the dry cleaners? If it's stale and a bit grubby, I would have thought that was exactly where you should take it.

If you want to take a risk with it, to save £10 - £15 or so, then you could try leather cleaner (as sold for sofas and suchlike) on the collar, and a low temp wash for the rest of it. Whatever you do, don't rub the wool. Hanging it outside (peg a coat hanger to the washing line) should shift the staleness.

What do the care instructions say?

It sounds like a good quality coat that you just haven't worn for a while. Unless it's the chemicals etc in dry cleaning that put you off, I would look at it as paying £10 - £15 for a new coat - which is a bargain.

Sorry not to answer your question directly, but it's for precisely this sort of garment that dry cleaning was invented, as nothing else really works very well.

Grouchy

Thanks for the reply. The instruction label is faded I'm afraid. I wasn't trying to avoid the cost, but I wasn't sure if leather would go through a dry cleaning machine and survive well.
Perhaps I will take it in and ask them what they think of the chances of a good result.