Leather & Suede Cleaning by Post: UK Wide

Leather and suede cleaning by post lets you send a jacket, coat, bag or pair of boots to a specialist workshop from any UK address and have it returned, cleaned, by tracked delivery. Ace of Suedes runs the service from its workshop in Edmonton, North London. You pack the item, post it with a short form, and it is assessed by hand before any work is agreed. The cleaning costs the same as it would over the counter. The extra is the postage: yours on the way in, and usually £20 per item on the way back.

How leather and suede cleaning by post works

A specialist leather cleaner is not something every town has, which is why a postal route exists at all. The sequence is short.

1. Start a booking online and choose the postal option.
2. Pack the item following the notes further down this page.
3. Put the contact and consent form in the box. It is on our postal service page. It tells us who the parcel belongs to, where it is going back to, and that you agree to the item being treated.
4. Send it by a tracked, insured service to the workshop address at the bottom of this page.
5. We examine it when it arrives and confirm the price with you before work starts.
6. It is cleaned and finished at our own premises, to the same standard as an item handed in at the door.
7. It comes back by tracked post.

The postal service page carries the current details on timings, weight limits and insurance cover, and it is the place to check those before you send.

What travels well, and what needs more thought

Almost anything we clean can be posted, but some things make the trip more easily than others.

Item	How well it posts	Worth knowing
Shoes, boots and trainers	Very well	A shoebox inside a slightly larger box is close to ideal
Handbags and small leather goods	Very well	Shape is everything, so fill the bag before you box it
Gloves and belts	Very well	Light enough for a small parcel
Leather and suede jackets	Well	Fold along the seams, never across a panel
Waxed jackets	Well	Wrap in paper, because wax transfers onto anything it touches
Full-length sheepskin and fur coats	With care	Heavy and bulky, so check the weight against the return limit
Sheepskin rugs and hides	With care	Roll, do not fold, and expect a large parcel

Items done at your own property, such as onsite deep cleaning, are obviously not part of the postal service.

How to pack each kind of item

Good packing is not about padding. It is about stopping the item from being crushed into a shape it will remember.

Jackets and coats

Lay the garment face down, fold the sleeves in along the side seams, and lay a sheet of tissue across the back before bringing the lower half up over it. The tissue sits inside the fold and stops it becoming a hard crease. One soft fold is the aim. A jacket folded into quarters to fit a small box arrives with lines pressed into the leather.

Do up zips and poppers so metal cannot rub on the surface, and empty every pocket.

Shoes and boots

Fill each one with crumpled paper so the toe and the heel hold their shape. Wrap each shoe on its own, because buckles, eyelets and soles mark the leather of the other one. Tall boots need the leg filling as well as the foot, or the shaft folds over at the ankle.

Handbags

Fill the inside until the bag stands up without help. Wrap chains, clasps and buckles in tissue so they do not press into the body of the bag, and tuck handles so nothing is bent sharply. Take out anything that is not part of the bag. If a detachable strap needs cleaning too, wrap it separately and put it in the same box.

Gloves, belts and small pieces

Lay gloves flat, one on the other, with tissue between them. Coil belts loosely, with the buckle wrapped. A padded envelope is enough for these, though a small box is safer.

Rugs and hides

Roll them loosely and tie the roll with tape or string over paper. Folding a hide puts a line across the skin that can be slow to drop out.

Whatever you are sending, use tissue paper or cotton next to the item and keep plastic away from it. Plastic holds moisture against the surface for the whole journey.

Five things to do before you seal the box

1. Make sure the item is dry. A coat packed even slightly damp spends days in a sealed box, which is exactly how mould starts.
2. Photograph it. A few pictures from each side, with close-ups of the marks you want dealt with, give you a record of how it left you.
3. Write a note about the problem. What the stain is, how long it has been there and what has been tried on it already are the three most useful facts a cleaner can be given. Guessing wastes the first attempt.
4. Do not treat it one last time. A final go with a wipe or a household cleaner the night before posting is a common cause of marks that will not come out.
5. Leave the extras at home. Branded boxes, receipts and authenticity cards are not needed and are safer with you. A cloth dust bag, on the other hand, makes good wrapping.

What it costs

There are three parts to the price, and only one of them is specific to posting.

• The cleaning itself. Postal customers pay the same service prices as everyone else, with nothing added for sending by post. Current prices are on each of our services pages.
• Postage to us. You choose the carrier and pay them directly.
• Return postage. Usually £20 per item, charged for each item we send back. A heavier parcel can cost more.

The return charge is per item, so it adds up when you send several things together: two pairs of boots means two return charges. If you live in or near London, that is the point at which collection becomes the better deal. Our van covers every London postcode and the surrounding fringe, and a collection is a single charge however many pieces go in the van, with nothing to pay from £50 upwards. The North London leather and suede cleaning page explains how that works.

Choosing a service for the outward journey

You are free to use any carrier. Three things are worth getting right.

• Tracking. You should be able to see that the parcel has been delivered.
• Cover that matches the value. Standard compensation on many services is far lower than the cost of a good leather jacket or a designer bag. Check the limit and pay for more if you need it.
• Proof of posting. Keep the receipt until the item is back with you.

For something you could not bear to lose, a specialist courier may be more suitable than ordinary post, and we are happy to advise before you send.

What we clean by post

Everything in the main list of services is open to postal customers. The ones sent most easily are:

• Leather garments
• Suede, sheepskin and shearling garments
• Shoes, boots and designer trainers
• Handbags
• Bags, belts, gloves and accessories
• Waxed jacket cleaning and re-waxing
• Fur cleaning

If you are trying to decide whether a marked piece is worth sending at all, two of our guides may help first: how to get stains out of suede and what a specialist can save on a stained suede handbag.

Where to send it

Address the parcel to:

Ace of Suedes, Unit F23a, Hastingwood Trading Estate, 35 Harbet Road, London N18 3HU

The workshop telephone number is 0208 981 3232. The workshop is open on weekdays between 9am and 3pm. Our postal service covers the whole of the UK. If you are outside the UK, please get in touch before sending anything, so that customs and duty can be discussed first.