Caring for your felt products

We at DATKA want to ensure you get to enjoy your felt products for years to come and have prepared recommendations for its care. All DATKA products are washable unless otherwise specified. 

Dry Cleaning

Dry cleaning is possible for all our felt products. 

For our products made using needle felting technique, this is the only method we recommend. 

Dry Surface Wash

If you get something moist on your felt or it gets covered with crumbs, use a wipe or a soft brush to gently wipe it away. Let crumbs or dirt dry before you attempt to wipe them off, as to eliminate smears on the material. If you think that the substance will cause a stain please directly proceed to hand washing as outlined below..

Hand Wash

• Brush as much of the dirt or dust off as you can while the item is  still dry. 

• Fill a sink or basin with cool or cold water (warm water would cause your product to shrink). 

• You can use either fabric softener used for washing woolens or liquid soap indicated for wool and a soft brush. Please follow the direction to use as mentioned on the product. 

• Place said item in water and wait until it soaked (as mentioned on the product if using woolen cleaner). 

• Gently press water out of felt without rubbing. If using liquid soap and a brush, rub very gently and don't press or squeeze the product too hard as it would cause it to lose its shape. 

• Air Dry the items you just washed by placing them on a drying rack or a towel. For flat products such as coasters, make sure they dry on a flat surface. For products with shape, such as slippers, make sure they are placed to dry in their original shape. 

• You can apply light steaming to the products in order to flatten their surface. Ironing will cause your products to shrink, so be careful when applying steaming.

Leather

Some of our products contain natural leather. Leather is a natural product. So this reveals all natural character- istics, such as neck wrinkles and fat lines, irregularities in the grain structure, variations in softness, and healed minor cuts and scratches. These natural variations you see on the surface of your leather item is another guarantee of authenticity. All products made with natural leather age with time. 

• To clean finished leather, simply wipe it with a soft damp cloth. Water damages leather, so ensure the cloth is damp not wet. For stubborn marks or dirt, use a leather cleaner suitable for bags.

• Always do spot testing before you apply any product on the leather. Apply a small amount to a spot that’s usually not visible, leave it for 24 hours to see if it changes the leather colour in any way and if you are happy with the results then continue applying to the rest of the bag.

• Never use products that contain Lanolin – often found in baby wipes.

• If you are applying a waterproofing product then it’s strongly recommended that you first apply a care product to help lock in moisture and to keep the fibres of the skin supple before making it waterproof. Only apply the waterproof to areas that will be exposed to moisture.
  

• If your leather bag gets wet, do not use a hair dryer or other heat source to dry it. Carefully wipe away excess moisture and allow the bag to air dry. If you apply heat, the leather tends to warp. For stubborn stains, try rubbing the spot with a white eraser, but be gentle and check whether it aggravates the problem before rubbing the entire area. Soak up oil spills with cornstarch. You can remove some organic stains with white chalk dust. Apply the dust to the area and let it sit overnight. Dust it off the next day.

• Deal with stains as quickly as possible so they do not have time to harden or stain the leather. If necessary, seek professional assistance.

• To clean unfinished leather, dust the bag with a soft, dry cloth. Use a white cloth to prevent color transfer and try not to dampen or wet the leather as water causes stains and warping. If the bag has a stain that sits on the surface of the leather, brush it off with a soft-bristle nylon brush. Brushing the bag cleans it and refreshes the nap. Take care not to brush too hard and damage the leather.

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Ikat 

We recommend dry cleaning for our products using Ikat Adras fabric. Alternatively, you can proceed to a cold hand wash with a soft soft or shampoo. However, we do not recommend this method as this could cause the Ikat to lose its shape.

Do not dry or leave your Ikat under direct sunrays, as a strong sun may cause the colors to fade away with time.