Featured How to "unstiffen" vintage fur?

I inherited a vintage Persian lamb jacket. I put it outside to air it out and it poured. By the time I came home from grocery shopping, it was drenched. Now, it is stiff as a board. Any idea how to soften it up again? I searched online but didn't find anything or this problem.

 

A mild rain will not ruin your fur. Just hang the garment up to dry in a well-ventilated room away from direct heat. After it is dry, give the fur a vigorous shake. If your fur gets thoroughly soaked, bring it to a professional furrier for proper treatment.

 

It was a torrential downpour. The fur is so stiff, it won't move.

 

Have dealt with furs and vintage clothing for years and have been thinking about this since reading your post several hours ago....
The only stiffness in skins I can recall has been due to incorrect storage and drying/dehydration which clearly is NOT your issue.
Would you post a pic or two?

Can you get to the back side or is it lined? Please wait for other responses - perhaps call or email a furrier?

Animals get their fur wet all the time so it seems there ought to be a way to reverse the stiffness.....will give it more thought. Good luck, hope you can sort it out.

 

Animals............are alive !

when my leather golf gloves get wet...and then dry stiff.....I put them on....and massage and rub my hands together until they soften up.......

 

Ummm, not any more!

 

Just arrived home from an all day emergency. Will take some photographs tomorrow in the daylight. It is lined. The water was streaming out of the jacket. I hung it on the back of a chair and left in the shower to drain and dry. I thought that was less strain on the shoulders than keeping it on a hanger. It might actually stand up without any support, that's how stiff it feels.

If all furry animals became this stiff after a heavy rain, they would walk like zombies.

 

It depends on how the skin was tanned. Fur skins are tanned with methods that preserve the hair, and tend to be less water resistant than other types of leather. Tanning with alum/aluminum sulfate ("tawing") was a common method of preparing fine furs until quite recently. Unfortunately, the alum tanning agent can be washed out if such leather is soaked, resulting in a stiff condition such as you describe, almost like rawhide. The hair may also begin to fall out. If the fur was alum tanned, I am afraid it will not be salvageable.

https://www.hewit.com/skin_deep/?volume=11&article=2

https://www.leather-dictionary.com/index.php/Tawing_with_alum

 

Sorry it too so long. Things are a bit crazy here, a bit more than usual. Here are a couple of photograph. This is how it dried, wrinkles, folds and all. I really loved this coat. It was from a nice store too.

@2manybooks. Thank you for the links. I'm so disappointed and angry with myself. It smelled like cedar and moth balls and I thought a day out in the fresh air would be enough to air it out.

 

I’m so, so sorry that happened to you, Mill Cove…but also appreciate learning from your experience. If it makes you feel any better you’ve helped others avoid a similar fate.

 

So sorry it happened. It's very hard to get mothball smell out. Some say it never totally goes away. And the stuff is toxic to humans and animals.

Don't be hard on yourself. We've all been there.

 

i sadly think it could be gone too but if it were mine and i decided it was gone i’d give it a last shot by first steaming it in the shower to add back some moisture for pliability and then I’d toss it in the dryer on air only with fabric softener sheets. Please only try this as a last resort as I’ve no clue if it will help but it’s what I would do.

 

Maybe it is an idea to take out the lining, and use a leather care product on the reverse side (leather) of the fur? You'd probably have to repeat it several times to feed the leather properly.

 

Perhaps take it to a furrier, before trying any unproven home remedies that might make it worse (if that is possible). They might have a solution, or can confirm that there is not. In which case you could take it back home and experiment.

 

Thank you everyone. I am going to contact a furrier and see what they have to say before I attempt anything else. I will post back once I have an answer.

 

Gently malaxing it small areas by small areas (totally dry, don't rehydrate it!) while watching TV will certainly improve the stiffness of the skin.
Exactly as the @komokwa leather golf gloves !
It deserves to be mended!

 

Gosh, that is too bad. I wish I had some answers for you. I don't know a lot about furs...
Leslie

 

I started working on one sleeve for a short time last night. It might work. It seems to be a bit softer and slightly more flexible. I didn't hear any cracking noises. I'm hoping that's a good sign.

 

that was going to be my suggestion . I have a sheep skin that got stiff. i jus worked the leather back and forth in a rolling action. It did soften up over time.