Cleaning : Questions and Answers Interview with Mr. Artamonov, technological expert of specialized cleaning company “ Pomozhiza” (“Assistant”)

F&F : How many methods are used for cleaning furs? And how many times you can clean your garment?

A: For the moment we use two ways : with organic dissolvent (percholoroethylene and hydrocarbon and surface cleaning with special timber granules or sawdust. Hydrocarbon is very delicate but useless in case fur or lining are really dirty. Mostly Russian cleaning companies use perchloroethylene because it’s stronger and we can also use ironing machine afterwards to cover hair with special concentrates to make fur glossy and silky.

 The second way isn’t used as it’s not economically reasonable, there is no equipment and skilled specialists.

You can’t clean furs at home effectively with such things as starch, benzin, vinegar, alcohol, etc. Fur garment could be cleaned up to 6 times if right technological regimes are applied.

Mr. Artamonov’s professional secrets: 

Clean your furs in spring – then you can also protect it from insects, active during summer season.

F&F: Could you name most typical spots?

 A: We currently face situations when people spill smth over fur garments – but it’s amazing that 1st place belongs to – try to guess – vegetable oil!!! – then softdrinks, food, motor oil. Even water spots stay on lining forever. By the way, it’s absolutely impossible to remove perfume! Liquid face powder on the collar is also serious problem as pigments is absorbed by hair, especially on light colored fur .

F&F: Which potential problems with cleaning could be foreseen even at the stage of purchasing?

A: You can face the following problems:

1 – depending on the type of fur – for example, bluefox and nutria have very low skin tensile strength. Karakul and broad tail have high shrinkage level. White furs get yellowish.

2 – depending on the design - it’s very difficult to clean combinations of furs and cloth, double faced garments with napped and suede skin side.

3 – problems with skin processing and sewing. Fur can loose color if colorant was bad, ….. But frequent problem is with clips as they get weak and could catch drum holes – and break item.

Mr. Artamonov’s professional secrets:

 You can use soft pet brush once a week for your garments – it’s very good anti-dirtying prevention.