I am looking for the leather gods on this forum for some help.
I am starting a small t shirt line as a side job for some extra money. The process in which I want to stitch the leather onto the tshirts has already been figured out, tested, and approved. The problem comes in when I test wash the garment in the washing machine.
First Problem: The leather tightens up and temporarily shrinks as a result of the washing / drying process.
Second Problem: The leather stains the test garment (I use white tshirts to test to see how much staining occurs).
Now come the variables. I bought a square foot of chestnut tanned nubuck leather and used cut out pieces to stitch onto the tshirt. I understand that the tanning of the leather is what stains the t shirt.
I went to the local family owned leather/ tanning store in my area where the employees as well as the owner are very knowledgeable and experienced in what they do. They told me that what I could do to stop the staining and shrinking would be to add beeswax to “waterproof” the leather. However, the beeswax would was away after a couple of washes and probably ruin the garment once the customer of my t shirt washes it a couple times. Their other professional opinion was to use un-tanned leather for my work. However, the un-tanned leather doesn’t match the color I would like to use.
My questions for the experts on this forum are:
1) Are there un-tanned leathers I could purchase, ready to stitch to garment, that match or come close to the color of chesnut (Orange brown)?
2) Is there a process I could put my tanned nubuck through that could “lock” the tan so it doesn’t wash, fade, or stain?
My biggest reason for my frustration is that I know some jean companies use leather on their jeans with their logo on it. Now maybe I am naïve and they use some realistic looking vinyl or pleather on their jeans, but I assume that the process of using leather for washable garments has been done before without staining the garments they are stitched on.
If the leather experts are reading this I appreciate any help you can provide me with, even if you can point me to the right direction.
I must add that I am pretty good “googling” my problems away but I’ve come up with nothing during my searches and realized that the only way to find a solution to my problems would be to seek help from the people who do this for a living.
Thank you in advance,
-J
