Winter coat cleaning belongs in early autumn, before the first properly cold week, not after it. A coat that has spent the summer shut in a wardrobe needs three things before it goes back into daily wear: a careful look for moth, mould and storage damage, a clean if it was put away worn or has come out smelling stale, and any repairs to zips, linings and seams.
Sheepskin, fur and leather each want checking in a different way, and none of them belongs in a washing machine. This guide takes the jobs in the order that makes sense.
Why autumn is the right time
Most coats are put away in spring looking fine. The trouble is what cannot be seen at that point. Skin oils around a collar, a splash of drink on a sleeve and the general grime of a winter's wear are often invisible when fresh. Left for months, oily marks oxidise and darken, so a coat that went in clean to the eye can come out with a yellowed collar or a shadow down the front.
There are three practical reasons to act in September or October instead of waiting:
- You can manage without the coat. Careful cleaning and slow, natural drying take time. It is far easier to hand a heavy coat over while the weather is still mild.
- Problems are cheaper to stop than to reverse. A few moth larvae or a patch of surface mould found now is a small job. The same thing found in January, after the coat has hung against everything else on the rail, is not.
- Repairs can be dealt with in the same visit. A sticking zip or a split lining is easier to sort before you are relying on the coat every morning.
The ten-minute check when a coat comes out of storage
Do this for every coat, one at a time, before any of them go back on the hallway hooks.
- Take it to a window. Wardrobe light hides almost everything. Daylight shows fading, marks and thin patches straight away.
- Smell it before you look at it. Put your nose to the lining and the inside of the collar. Stale, musty or smoky smells are information: something is in the fibres, and it will not wear off.
- Check the contact points. Collar, cuffs, pocket edges and the front edge where hands go are where soiling builds up first.
- Open it out and look inside. Turn back the collar, lift the facings and look along the seams and under the arms. This is where moth larvae and their webbing hide.
- Look for anything pale and powdery. White, grey or greenish spots on the surface need a closer look before the coat goes near your other clothes.
- Work every fastening. Run the zip its full length, press each stud, tug each button gently.
- Check the lining. Armholes, the hem and the pocket bags are the places that give way first.
- Look at the shoulders. A thin wire hanger can leave a ridge or a stretched point after months of carrying the weight.
What you find decides what happens next.
| What you notice | What it usually means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Dusty, slightly flat, no smell | Normal storage | Air it, brush it, wear it |
| Stale or musty smell | Damp air or soiling held in the fibres | Air for a day or two; if it stays, it needs cleaning |
| Dark or shiny collar and cuffs | Skin oils and wear | Professional clean |
| Small holes, loose tufts, gritty dust | Moth activity | Keep it apart from other clothes and get it treated |
| Pale powdery or fuzzy spots | Possibly mould | Keep it apart; do not brush it indoors |
| Stiff, dry or cracking areas | The skin has dried out | Specialist assessment before you wear it |
If you find signs of moth, our guide to moth damage treatment explains how to deal with the wardrobe as well as the garment. For pale spots on a leather coat, the guide to mould and mildew on leather shows how to tell mould from the harmless bloom that sometimes rises out of leather.
Sheepskin and shearling
A sheepskin coat has two surfaces to check, and people usually only look at the outside.
Start with the fleece. Part it with your fingers at the back of the neck, around the cuffs and down the front edges. You are looking for thin or bald areas, matting where the wool has been squashed flat, and any greyness from soiling. Fleece that has simply been compressed in storage will lift again with a shake and a gentle tease through with the fingers. Fleece that has gone thin has been eaten or worn away and will not thicken up.
Then the outer skin. It should feel supple when you flex a sleeve. If the surface has gone flat and slightly shiny in places, a suede brush used lightly in one direction will usually stand the nap back up. If the skin feels stiff, boardy or tight, do not try to work it soft by hand. That is a sign it has dried out and needs proper attention.
Sheepskin holds smells deep in the wool, so a coat that smells of the wardrobe after two days of airing has a problem airing cannot reach. For everyday care through the season, see our sheepskin and shearling coat guide, and for cleaning, our suede, sheepskin and shearling garments service.
Fur
Fur shows its condition through the hair and through the skin beneath it, and the skin is the part that matters most.
- Shake it out. Hold the coat by the shoulders and give it a few firm shakes. The hair should fall back into place and look lively, not clumped.
- Hang it somewhere airy for a day. Indoors, out of direct sun, with space around it so nothing presses on the hair.
- Test for shedding. Take a small pinch of hair and pull very gently. A stray hair or two is normal. Hair that comes away in a tuft points to moth damage or a skin that is failing.
- Feel the skin through the lining. It should bend quietly. A dry, papery crackle when you fold a section means the pelt has lost its natural oils, and a coat in that state can tear in wear.
- Check the edges. Cuffs, pocket openings and the hem take the rubbing, so that is where bare patches appear first.
Do not use a hairbrush, a clothes brush or any spray on fur, and keep perfume and hairspray well away from the collar, because the alcohol dries the hair. Fur with a dulled, slightly greasy look has taken on soiling and needs a specialist clean. Our fur cleaning page covers jackets, coats and fur-lined pieces.
Leather
Leather usually comes out of storage looking worse than it is. Creases from folding or from a crowded rail tend to drop out on their own once the coat has hung on a wide, shaped hanger for several days. Never try to press them out with an iron.
Wipe the whole coat over with a soft, dry cloth to lift the dust, then look at the areas that flex: elbows, shoulders and the back of the collar. Leather that looks paler and feels drier there than on the body of the coat is thirsty. On smooth, finished leather a small amount of conditioner can help, with three conditions:
- Test it first somewhere hidden, such as the inside of the front facing, and let it dry fully before judging the result.
- Use far less than you think you need, worked in with a cloth, not poured on.
- Keep it off suede and nubuck altogether. If you are not certain which you have, our suede, nubuck and leather comparison has simple tests.
Conditioner feeds leather. It does not clean it. Rubbing it into a grubby collar seals the dirt in and makes the eventual clean harder. If the collar, cuffs or pocket edges are dark with wear, clean first. Our leather garments service covers jackets and coats.
Coats with leather, suede or fur trim, and waxed jackets
Plenty of winter coats are mostly wool or a technical fabric with a fur collar, suede elbow patches or leather piping. The trim is the part that limits how the whole coat can be cleaned, because a process that suits the cloth can stiffen or discolour the skin attached to it. Check the care label, and if it carries a warning about the trim, treat the coat as a specialist item. They come into the workshop as garments with leather, suede or fur trim.
Waxed cotton is a separate case with its own timetable. If water has stopped beading on the shoulders, read our guide on how often to rewax a waxed jacket before the wet weather sets in.
Winter coat cleaning: what to do at home and what to send in
Most of the autumn routine needs no products at all. The line between home care and specialist work is clearer than people expect.
| Safe to do yourself | Send to a specialist |
|---|---|
| Airing indoors, away from sun and heat | A smell that is still there after airing |
| Shaking out fur and fleece | Any sign of moth: holes, webbing, loose hair |
| Light brushing of suede with a suede brush | Mould on suede, fleece or fur |
| Dusting smooth leather with a dry cloth | Dark, greasy collars and cuffs |
| Sparing conditioner on smooth leather only | Stains, tide marks and dye transfer |
| Emptying pockets and swapping to a proper hanger | Stiff, dry or cracking skins |
Two things sit firmly outside home care. Smells from damp, smoke or long storage are in the fibres, not on them, and sprays only add a second smell on top. Our ozone treatment and odour removal deals with the source. And anything showing moth activity should be handled before it shares a rail with clean clothes, which is the job of the moth infestation treatment and prevention service.
Repairs worth doing before the cold
Small faults turn into large ones once a coat is worn daily under load. Look for these and have them fixed first:
- A zip that catches or splits behind the slider. It will fail completely at the least convenient moment.
- Lining torn at the armhole or hem. Every time an arm goes in, the tear lengthens.
- Loose or missing buttons and studs. Find the spares now, while you still have a matching one to copy.
- Seams opening at pockets and under the arms. A short open seam is a simple repair. A tear in the skin beside it is not.
- Sleeves that have always been slightly too long. Cuffs that drag are the first part of any coat to wear through.
New zips, relining, replacement buttons and studs, sleeve shortening and mending rips and tears are all part of our repair and alterations service. Each piece is assessed before work starts.
Keeping a coat right through the winter
Once a coat is clean and sound, a few habits keep it that way until spring.
- Dry it slowly after rain. Shake the water off, put it on a broad hanger and leave it at room temperature. Radiators, airing cupboards, hairdryers and tumble dryers harden leather and suede and can shrink a skin.
- Do not leave road salt on a hem. Salt draws moisture out of leather and leaves a pale line as it dries. For suede, the method is covered in how to get stains out of suede.
- Give it a rest day. A coat worn two days running never fully dries out from the inside. Alternating lets the lining and the skin recover.
- Hang it by the shoulders, not the loop. The loop at the neck is for a moment on a peg, not for carrying the weight of a heavy coat for months.
- Mind your bag strap. A shoulder strap worn in the same place every day flattens fur and polishes suede into a shiny track.
- Keep it out of damp spaces. Porches, car boots and cold hallways with poor airflow are where mould starts.
Getting your coat to us
Ace of Suedes cleans and repairs leather, suede, sheepskin and fur at our workshop in Edmonton, North London. We collect and deliver across London and the surrounding fringe: collection is free on orders of £50 or more within the covered postcodes, and £10 below that. From anywhere else in the UK, coats can be sent through our tracked postal service, with return postage usually £20 per item.
Prices for each type of coat are shown on the individual pages under our services. If the check above turned up something you are unsure about, book the coat in and it will be assessed before any work is done.