Any ideas for removing a smoke smell from leather clothing?
I just got back from Africa, where a student I sponsor gave me a traditional leather fringed skirt. It’s wonderful. Unfortunately, it smells strongly, mostly a smoke smell. My parents were given a similar skirt and they say that even after 3 years hanging outdoors there was still a smell on it. I’m guessing the smoke was part of the leather curing process.
I would love to display this skirt, but I can’t with the smell.
I have not tried this, but I have read before that storing an item with crumpled newspaper will absorb the smoke smell. You might throw in a couple of charcoal briquettes, too. (Just don’t use the kind that are impregnated with lighter fluid!)
Febreze deodorizer is available in an “auto” version for car interiors. I recommend trying that since it has much less of the characteristic Febreze-y scent than the regular Febreze.
Those Magic Tree car fresheners work wonders., especially the pine scented ones
Hang the garment in a closet and stick 2 or 3 car fresheners in pockets or whatevers available. Leave for about a week and voila! smell gone and just a tiny pine smell which soon goes, better than smoke anyways
I’ve purchased two leather jackets from a man on eBay who has great stuff but is evidently a heavy smoker. I got results with one jacket (horsehide, fairly sturdy) by machine washing it on knit/delicate cycle, cold water, with no soap, but with a couple big bath towels thrown in for cushioning and sopping up excess water. I then dried the jacket (again with towels) slowly on low heat, pulling it out every few minutes to check for shrinkage and stretch it out where necessary.
The jacket came out gently “aged” with some new ripples and deeper grain in the horse and a few very small areas of color loss, but otherwise fine. And didn’t smell nearly so much of smoke.