When I was 20 I found my dream coat. This thing was amazing. It was a plaid wool coat from the 60's with fur around the collar that I found for $30 on ebay. I wore it until it was basically unwearable. While on a visit some years later my mom made me a proposition, "if you throw that piece of carpet away I will buy you a brand new coat." At first I said no. She insisted. I asked if I could get a new old coat like my ratty old 60's coat. "No," she said. "I'm getting you a new coat." Those of you who have met my mom know there's no use arguing with her--she will win. I couldn't bare to throw my coat into the trash, so we compromised and decided I would take it to the thrift store. We drove down to Goodwill. I ceremoniously placed the coat in the arms of the kind man in the blue vest. "Be good to it," I said. Parting with this coat was just like parting with my 1st pair of chucks--after I threw them away I couldn't bare to buy another pair. I mean, no other pair of shoes would feel like they had been to Europe, Asia, middle and high school, college, rock shows, the Hanson saga, my first performance, my blue hair phase, my red hair phase, my multi-colored hair phase, 1 giant highschool crush, research papers, the mall days, Greek class, school productions, when I discovered music, JNCO's, Miss Angie, Lilith Fair, and, not to mention, puberty. Or it was like when Friends went off the air--after that I just stopped watching TV all together. Was this coat my lobster? Would I, in fact, stop wearing coats? It doesn't matter how many beautiful new pairs of shoes you buy--you'll always want to slip into those old, ratty shoes that know the shape of your foot. Silly as it may seem, that is how I felt about this coat.
That was 3 years ago. Hopeless as it might be I still occasionally peruse the coats at The Goodwill to see if my coat is in there. And to answer my question, yes, I did stop wearing coats. For 3 years I have frozen and/or layered my clothing because I haven't found a coat I'd like to wear yet. I mean, once you've had Jeni's ice-cream, why would you go back to any other ice-cream?
With that said, why throw our good-olds away when they're worn out? Though this little trick wouldn't have helped my coat, it has helped me keep my leather looking new--or at least not old--as well as giving new life to my Goodwill, flea market, and garage sale finds.
You'll need: a rag you don't mind throwing away, bee's wax or leather weather guard (Clark's has a good one), and a hair dryer.
1. make your leather warm with your hair dryer
2. massage the bee's wax into your leather.
3. wipe off any excess wax. Your leather will absorb the rest of the bees wax. Don't worry--your boots will not be oily forever.
4. allow your leather goods to sit for a day before using them again.
5. Voila!
Should it provide any release, feel free to tell us about the time you threw your first pair of chucks/dream coat away.
Note, do not use this on suede. Wax may make some leathers darker. Also, please excuse the sequence of my photos--after 20 minutes of fighting with Blogger I am finished arguing. It won.
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