It’s finally March, and if you’re anything like me, you’ve worn the same pair of gloves all winter… and they’re getting a little grimy. But what if you can’t just toss your gloves in the wash, because they’re made of a lovely combination of leather and wool? Here’s how to get rid of the grime without ruining your gloves.
- Turn your gloves inside out to clean the wool first. Then spray a bit of water and squirt a couple drops of no rinse wool cleaner (I like the Eucalan No Rinse Delicate Wash) onto the palm of each.
- Push your hands back into the leather so that you can massage the soap and water mixture onto each as if you were washing your hands.
- Hang to dry on a regular drying rack or a lingerie drying rack like this one from The Container Store. Do not wring dry.
- Once completely dry, it’s time to turn them outside in and clean the leather. Dampen a clean cloth and apply a couple drops of leather cleaner (or Eucalan No Rinse Delicate Wash) to the cloth.
- Gently wipe the soapy cloth on the leather gloves, then dry with a separate clean, dry cloth. Dry completely as with the wool above.
All that said, if you have really fancy leather gloves – take them to a professional leather cleaner. My leather gloves are lovely, but I bought them at Costco last fall, so a simple home cleaning will do.
