The Leather Closet
Our first public event will be at the Eagle | Mpls Leather Club Night on Tuesday, June 2.
The Atons of Minneapolis proudly introduces The Leather Closet, our initiative dedicated to promoting leather culture and apparel within our leather/kink community. This program focuses on “gifted leather,” which involves donating leather clothing to newcomers, fostering their inclusion in leather spaces at minimal cost. Community members can donate items like vests, chaps, and pants. The Leather Closet also provides educational resources on leather care, ensuring recipients can maintain their new gear properly. This project not only keeps valuable leather garments from being discarded but also strengthens community bonds by passing on cherished items.
What is “gifted leather?”
It can be anything you want it to be. Here at The Leather Closet, we view gifting leather as serving two important purposes:
- To help people try wearing leather for the first time and make them feel welcome in “leather” spaces.
- Gifting leather is, and historically has been, a great way to pass on older pieces of leather that may no longer fit, are no longer worn, or belonged to someone who has died. Often, if we don’t gift our leather to someone who will appreciate it, it ends up at Goodwill or other thrift stores. Leather apparel can be quite expensive, and The Leather Closet approaches gifting leather to first-time wearers as a way to introduce people to leather at little or no cost.
As part of The Leather Closet mission, Atons members who are part of Twin Cities Bootblacks will provide a “Leather 101” document to help get you started off on the right foot with caring for your gifted leather. If you find that a piece of leather is gathering dust or no longer suits you, please consider gifting it to someone who will appreciate it! You don’t know someone like that, bring it to us – we will find a home for it!
What Can I Donate To The Leather Closet?
- Vests
- Chaps
- Pants
- Shirts
- Shorts
- Skirts/Kilts
- Leather Corsets
- Hats (on a case-by-case basis)
- Coats (on a case-by-case basis)
- Leather-themed t-shirts (like bar & event shirts) in good shape
The Leather Closet does not accept the following items: boots, jocks, underwear, accessory items like armbands, wristbands, etc.
How Do I Donate To The Leather Closet?
Please be as detailed as possible, and a member of The Leather Closet Team will contact you for next steps.
An Atons Leather Care Primer
So you now have Leather! What do you do with it?
First: What do you need?
For the purposes of this Leather care primer, we’ll only focus on cleaning and conditioning.
Tools of the trade:
- Horsehair Brush https://a.co/d/3HtEeCf
- Cloth/towels
- Spray bottle https://a.co/d/5RHO91O
Cleaning Supplies:
- Soap (This is how you’ll get it clean!)
- Saddle soap https://a.co/d/8bQwkJg
- Conditioner (Soap not only gets rid of any dirt and grime, but it can also remove some of the natural oils in the leather itself, similar to using soap without a moisturizer. Conditioning not only reintroduces those oils back into the leather, but can also make it nice and shiny!)
- Huberd’s (NOTE: contains Pine, and also has a tendency to darken leather, use on black leather only preferred) https://a.co/d/dtp9gKA
- Aussie (NOTE: contains beeswax) https://a.co/d/1S0DNC6
- Obenauf’s LP (NOTE: contains beeswax) https://a.co/d/8WYlrp8
So How Do You Clean and Condition?
- Use your spray bottle to wet the leather
- Apply saddle soap
- Scrub the soap
- Apply more water to rinse the soap off of the leather
- Wipe dry with a cloth
- Take your conditioner and apply some to your hand, rubbing it in between them to warm it up
- Work the conditioner into your leather
- Let the conditioner sit for about a minute before wiping off the excess
NOTE: For larger items (jackets, shirts, pants) we recommend working piecemeal, focusing on one section at a time. For example, on a pair of pants, clean and condition one leg at a time, starting on one side, and flipping it over to work on the other side.
And finally, some storage and travel tips!
- Store in a cool dry place, and opt for cloth garment bags if desired to keep your gear from collecting dust
- Place something between pieces of gear when packed (t shirt, towel, etc.)
For more Leather care info, we highly recommend both https://www.anyonecanshine.com/ and http://bootblack.wikidot.com/!
