How do I clean suede?! - a hurricane Harvey casualty

[geargarcon]

Hi everyone -

I'm really hoping the wonderful community here can help me out.  I'm a Houstonian and my part of town was hit especially hard by hurricane Harvey.  My family and I narrowly escaped the floodwaters, but most of my neighborhood was not so fortunate.  We had standing water in homes until this past Sunday.

I have one friend who lost everything.  We gutted his house immediately and are trying to help them out as best we can - one way we are helping involves saving family heirlooms.

I have in my possession a suede cowboy hat that I believe belonged to his father.  I have called all over Houston trying to get this thing cleaned/restored.  Some people clean suede... Some people clean cowboy hats... no one does both.

I've learned a lot from all of you on this forum and now I'm hoping to learn a bit more - how can I go about cleaning this hat myself?

Best,

gg

Edited September 13, 2017 by geargarcon

[zaynexpetty]

Fiebings makes a brush and bar combo that helps clean suede and nubuck without the use of liquid.

[DrmCa]

You brush it. I used to have a brush with 3 rows of hair bristles and 2 rows of brass bristles between the first 3 rows.

[geargarcon]

Thank you for your recommendations.  Can anyone speak to mold removal?  My fear is that I'll be able to make it look clean, but the mold spores will still be lurking waiting to rear their ugly heads at the first sign of moisture.

 

gg

[zaynexpetty]

1 hour ago, geargarcon said:

Thank you for your recommendations.  Can anyone speak to mold removal?  My fear is that I'll be able to make it look clean, but the mold spores will still be lurking waiting to rear their ugly heads at the first sign of moisture.

 

gg

White Vinegar is a safe way of killing mold. Use it after using the a brush to remove most of the residue, Id recommend the fiebings set with the soap. Afterward, spot treat the moldy areas with white vinegar, dab and then rub gently, wait for it to dry, then brush the areas with the suede brush. 

 

Vinegar is also effective at removing odors. If you still have a slight vinegar smell afterwards I think  just using a dusting of baking soda should help neutralize it. Not sure if it would have any ill effects on the suede. I'd test it out on a scrap piece if you have one.

[Instinctive]

You can also use lemon juice and water mix to remove and kill the mold.

[geargarcon]

Wonderful!  Thank you all so much for the advice.

[DrmCa]

Citric acid is a solid, lemon juice will need to be washed off.

White vinegar is acetic acid which is volatile, it will evaporate.

Choose one you are more comfortable with.

[Instinctive]

8 minutes ago, DrmCa said:

Citric acid is a solid, lemon juice will need to be washed off.

White vinegar is acetic acid which is volatile, it will evaporate.

Choose one you are more comfortable with.

Good point. When I use the lemon I always wipe with a damp cloth after. I must try the vinegar sometime.

[geargarcon]

39 minutes ago, DrmCa said:

Citric acid is a solid, lemon juice will need to be washed off.

White vinegar is acetic acid which is volatile, it will evaporate.

Choose one you are more comfortable with.

To be honest I'm not sure what I should be more comfortable with when it comes to how each of these will affect suede... Is it safe to infer from what you said that you would go with vinegar?

Edited September 14, 2017 by geargarcon

[Bob Blea]

I use Oxalic Acid to clean mold of leather.  It's stronger than vinegar so I'm a little more confident it's really killing off the spores.  But I've never tried it on suede.  I've used lemon juice and it works well, but again I've never tried that on suede either.

[DrmCa]

I am in the same boat as Bob - never used organic acids on suede. Just pointing out that vinegar will dry up all by itself, leaving no traces.

One concern though, is that grocery store vinegar may contain other unwelcome substances, like sugar for instance. You never know what they spice things with to inflate sales! If I were to use vinegar on suede, I would buy glacial acetic acid from the drug store or chemical supply instead.