Gun Belt Suede Lining Dye Transfering To Pants

[BigJake]

I hope this is the correct forum to raise this question, but I'm having a problem with my gun rig. This outfit is a cowboy holster and gunbelt which is suede lined on the belt only. The suede seems to transfer the dye to my pants if I wear a light color and it's not the suede fibers rubbing off, it's the dye. Rubbing with a white cloth does the same thing. This is a nice belt and I would like to correct this issue and I'm hoping someone has a suggestion since the dye does not completely wash out of my pants.

[Luke Hatley]

Did you Dye the suede or is it factory finished ?

[katsass]

My question also -------

[BigJake]

I contacted the maker and he said the suede was "as supplied" from his supplier with no additional dyes added by the maker. He suggested a mild soapy water cleaning which I have not tried yet. Any suggestions?

[Rising Sun Leather Co]

Use a 50/50 water to vinegar solution.

[BigJake]

Use a 50/50 water to vinegar solution.

OK how about some details on doing this. Should I be concerned about this mixture contacting the front side of the belt? Do I just rub it in and leave it to dry to seal the suede? Should I be concerned about the contact cement bond between the suede and the veg tanned and carved leather on the front side? At this point I'm willing to try anything but I need more info before using this mixture.

[Rising Sun Leather Co]

That my friend is something that you will have to find out for yourself. When I used it, I dipped black suede in the solution just long enough to get wet all over. Then I let it dry. It became a little stiff when it dried. At that point I just rolled it in every direction and it softened up to it's original feel.

I would say, try to wipe the solution on lightly with a cloth or even maybe mistit on with a spray bottle. Sorry I can't be more certain what else might happen to the front side. I do know that when i did it, not even the smallest trace of black ever rubbed off.

Hope this helps,

Joey

[BigJake]

It sounds like the vinegar and water mixture "fixes" the dye in the suede but I have never heard of this. I'm visiting the Tandy store today to purchase some suede (after confirming it will also transfer) to use for testing. I have contacted the maker of my belt to ask his opinion about the vinegar and water, no answer yet, or I may just send it back to him to correct the problem.

[BigJake]

Well here's where I am today in my search for answers to my dye question. I inquired at Tandy leather on Saturday about this issue and their response was "all suede transfers dye, some more than others" They suggested trying soda ash so I finally found some at Hobby Lobby, and while I was at Tandy I purchased some scrap pieces of suede in a rust color, which is what I have on my gun belt. I'm thinking I'll try the vinegar/ water mix and the soda ash on the scrap pieces as a test. After an overnight dry of the suede, the dye would rub off on a clean dry cloth with both sample pieces. Now this is not aggresive rubbing, just a half dozen strokes. Next test was with a damp cloth, both samples transfered badly to the cloth.

Suede is pretty much universally used by gun rig makers when the belt will be worn outside the pant loops, or at least the ones I'm familar with. Am I the only one to have this dye transfer issue? Surely someone has an answer to the problem.

[Bob Blea]

I'm curious to know answers to this too.

[radar67]

Have you thought about sealing the suede with acrylic resolene mixed 50/50 with water?

[RLdave]

I know this is an old topic, but I am also having trouble with factory dyed suede transfering color to items & clothes.

Has anybody found a reliable solution to setting the dye & stopping this annoying discoloration of everything that the suede comes in contact with?

Thank you.

[BigJake]

Yes this is an old topic and still unanswered so the answer must be a secret. This forum has more experts that any leather forum on the WWW so surely someone here must have a solution.

BJ