Servicing Vintage Outerwear and Fur-Trimmed Coats | Technical Cleaning Series

Servicing Vintage Outerwear: Wool, Cashmere, and Fur-Trimmed Coats

The Construction of Vintage Luxury

Vintage outerwear—specifically coats crafted from wool, cashmere, angora, and other fine animal fibers—represents a level of craftsmanship rarely seen in modern "fast fashion." These garments were built to last decades, often featuring genuine fur collars and cuffs, hand-sewn linings, and ornate hardware or buttons made of glass, bone, or fragile synthetics. However, because of their age and the combination of contrasting materials, these pieces require a specialized "Deconstruction" protocol to ensure their survival during the cleaning process.

The Deconstruction Protocol

The safest and most professional way to service a high-value vintage coat is to treat each component according to its specific chemical needs. Unlike modern garments, these pieces cannot simply be placed in a machine "as is." Our process includes:

• Hardware Removal: Vintage buttons and hardware are often brittle or unique and impossible to replace if damaged. We physically remove these items before cleaning and hand-sew them back into their original positions once the service is complete.
• Fur Separation: Fur and wool require entirely different cleaning chemistries. We deconstruct the garment to clean the fur trim separately using specialized fur-cleaning methods that preserve the natural oils in the pelt, while the wool body is processed in a dedicated dry cleaning cycle.
• Post-Cleaning Reassembly: Once each component is cleaned and finished, the garment is expertly put back together. This labor-intensive "Remove and Replace" service ensures the integrity of the piece but does carry additional service charges.

The Cleaning Method: Dry Cleaning vs. Hand Cleaning

Vintage animal fibers are highly sensitive to moisture and mechanical action.

1. Dry Cleaning: This is almost always the required method for older wool, cashmere, and angora. These fibers are not "wet-cleanable," as water can cause unpredictable shrinkage, felting, or loss of the garment's original silhouette.
2. Hand Cleaning: For items that are structurally too fragile for even the gentlest machine cycle, we offer a specialized hand-cleaning. While this is the safest way to refresh the surface of a delicate vintage piece, it is important to note that hand-cleaning is not a deep clean. It focuses on surface soil and may not be effective for deeply embedded odors or set-in stains.

The Risks of Age

Even with our highest level of care, vintage garments possess "inherent vices" due to the natural degradation of fibers over time. We may identify pieces where the wool has become "tender" or the fur pelt has become "papery" and dry. In these instances, we know the garment will likely sustain damage in a standard cleaning cycle. If deconstruction and hand-cleaning are not enough to mitigate this risk, we will communicate these findings clearly before proceeding.

Service Recommendation

Vintage luxury coats are more than just apparel; they are often family heirlooms. Because of the specialized labor involved in deconstructing and reassembling these pieces, we treat them as individual restoration projects. We recommend this full-service approach for any coat with fragile hardware or permanent fur trim. While a Release of Liability is part of our standard intake for vintage items, our goal is to use our expertise to bypass those risks entirely through careful deconstruction and hand-finishing.