So you have finally received the coveted varsity jacket. The classy jackets that are loved and adored by everyone around the world. The jackets you earned through your hard work and dedication. Of course it’s understandable that you want to wear your jacket all the time. This is exactly how I felt when I got my varsity jacket. Believe it or not I wore it for five months straight. I wore it to college, to my football practice, out to the mall, to the clubs. I just wore it everywhere. I advise you to wear them everywhere too. Just don’t make the same mistakes I did with them. I didn’t know how to take care of them properly and after wearing them all the time I saw the signs of wear and tear. I didn’t know how to clean them properly and I ended up spoiling my varsity jacket. You can wear your jackets as long as you want. All you’ve got to do is take proper care of them. In this article right here I’ll teach you how to take care of your coveted varsity jackets and enable them to last a lifetime.
Firstly you should know the material your varsity jacket is made up of so that you can take proper care of it. Typically a varsity jacket is made of leather and wool. The sleeves are made of leather while the rest of the jacket is made of wool.
Firstly we will discuss as to how we can take care of the leather sleeves. Even though leather is a very tough, strong and resilient material, but it can crack and get ruined as well. This typically happens if there are manufacturing issues or if your jacket gets exposed to a lot of dirt and oil and isn’t cleaned off properly. Signs of manufacturing error start to show pretty quickly (within three to four months cracks will start to appear). Mostly the manufacturing error that occurs is that, a lot of companies don’t stretch the leather properly and apply the dye. What this does is when leather stretches itself out after wear the dye will break and cracks will start to appear. The other common, issue is of exposure to dirt and oil. Leather is a material that absorbs oil and when it does it starts to swell up and when it stretches cracks start to appear. So you’ve definitely got to be careful with that. Surprisingly taking care of these leather sleeves isn’t a very difficult job. All you’ve got to do is clean the dust off the sleeves using a clean soft cloth. Next you take another clean soft cloth and dampen it up. Put one or two drops of baby shampoo onto the cloth and rub it with your fingers so that the cloth absorbs it. Next gently rub the cloth onto the dirty leather sleeves in circular motion, be sure to be gentle. The shampoo will break down the oil and dirt and clean your sleeves easily. It the stains and dirt don’t disappear, you can add another drop. Keep rubbing gently until the stain disappears, then dry the leather with a clean dry soft cloth. When you’re done apply a little leather conditioner onto the sleeves. Do this once or twice a week and trust me those leather sleeves will look as good as new even after many years.
Now that the sleeves are done let’s get to the wool body. Wool again is a pretty sturdy material and doesn’t wear off easily. If you take proper care of it, it can really last a lifetime. The only issue with wool is the constant use can cause its fibers to degrade with would result in small rips and holes. To counter that just remove the fuzz balls with the help of scissors when they appear and air out your jacket at least once in a low moisture environment. This keeps your wool fresh and will ensure that it lasts long. Cleaning the wool is pretty simple. The process is going to be same as cleaning the leather except for applying the leather conditioner.
Follow these instructions and clean your beloved varsity jacket once or twice a week and wear it with care. Trust me your jacket is going to last long and one day hopefully you’ll be able to show it to your children and grandchildren and tell them stories about your accomplishments on the dinner table.
