Dry Cleaning Hugo Boss pants with metal logo tag

[jmcarson3]

I have several pairs of Hugo Boss Alabama pants with the metal and leather logo on the back of the waist. For the past few years I have taken the pants to dry cleaners and I notice that many dry cleaners tend to damage the metal label slightly with each cleaning. The dry cleaners claim to be doing reduced dry cleaning cycles and even dry cleaning the pants inside out, which I always request based on advise from one cleaner that never damaged the labels (I have since moved far away from this cleaner).

Has anyone else had this sort of experience, and do you have any thoughts on how to prevent this (or fix it)? I have called Hugo Boss directly and they plead ignorance on the issue. I am considering pinning a piece of material over the label since the wear appears to look like rubbing rather than a chemical reaction. Any feedback is appreciated on the dry cleaning, and please don't just say to wash these since they shrink and fade over time. Hugo Boss is not a commonly available brand where I live.

Thanks

 

[stubloom]

Running those H. Boss pants through a "reduced cycle" or turning them inside out will do NOTHING to prevent the damage to the leather logo with the embedded metal rectangular logo. This applies to both dry clean or wet clean.

That leather logo gets "damaged" because

* the leather dyes bleed in the cleaning (dry clean or wet clean)

* the oils in the leather (oils allow the leather to retain it's suppleness) are reduced by the dry cleaning process (dry cleaning solvents are, primarily, emulsifiers/dissolvers of oils) .

As a result, the leather looses it's color intensity and the edges of the leather logo shrinks and/or curls up.

There is only one way to prevent that from happening: insist that the cleaner remove the leather logo prior to cleaning (dry cleaning or wet cleaning) and replace the logo after cleaning. Tell that to your cleaner and then share their reaction with us.

 

[jmcarson3]

Hi stubloom, thanks for your fast response. I realize that my initial post was a bit unclear. I was actually referring to damage to the metal portion of the label rather than the leather. The leather has actually fared well on all pairs of my pants over the years. The metal portion at some cleaners, however, gets what appear to be wear spots where the underlying brass or similar material starts to show through. I have considered removing the label each time, and did actually speak to a couple of places about doing this, but they of course want a tailor fee. You get what you pay for, I realize that. I am hoping to find a simpler solution.

When I lived in Los Angeles, I was taking my pants to a local Green Earth cleaner for a couple of years, and I never had a problem. The manager there would wash the pants inside out and do reduced cycle. I never had any wear to the labels. I live in Texas now and have been asking the local cleaners (no local Green Earth ones) to do reduced cycle and inside out, which they claim to be doing. However, I notice that the metal is slowly getting buffed down again. As I said prior, this does not appear to be a chemical reaction but rather some sort of rubbing.

So I am curious if others have seen this with similar-type labels and if pinning a piece of fabric over the metal might help. I also suspect the clearners are not dry cleaning the pants inside out or they are doing something in the pressing process that is affecting the metal. Thoughts are greatly appreciated.

 

[stubloom]

You might want to consider basting a cover around the leather/metal label prior to taking it to the cleaners.

Suggestion: make a sandwich comprising a piece of fiber fill placed between 2 pieces of white cotton. The sandwich should be about 1/2 inch larger than the leather label. Then baste the sandwich over the label prior to dropping them off at the cleaner. That'll protect your garments from dry cleaner mediocrity.