Calling all white breeches wearers: What are your methods and product recommendations for:
a) General cleaning?
b) Getting grass and mud stains out (for those of us lucky enough to have them)?
c) Cleaning the knee patches or full seat once they start to stain from saddle dye?
First --I clean what can be seen —knee patches used on a black saddle, unless the knee patches are black, are not an area I work on. Here are my methods from gentlest to last try before breeches are trashed:
cold water, pre treat with stain cleaner specific for stain --grass, blood, manure --two faves are OxyClean stain remover and shout. If you want to, gentle rubbing (fabric on fabric) on the stain will speed the process. Wash in cold water. Air dry (we never dry breeches in the dryer).
If that doesn’t work —make a paste of granular detergent, (Tide is my go to) rub into the spot, gentle rubbing with fabric on fabric but increase duration of rubbing and leave the damp breeches set with paste on spots. Wash in cold water, air dry.
If that doesn’t work-- switch to dishwasher granules, make a paste, at this point might try a reasonably soft brush, but be aware this may snag or damage fabric. Fabric on fabric is best.
If that doesn’t work --getting pretty heavy duty here —spray spot with lemon juice and work in baking soda --make the lemon juice paste, baking soda right on the spot —SET IN SUN —this might cause yellowing of spot --you then can go to the last resort
Rit --Rit White Wash Powder --this is really strong stuff —I’ve used in mostly on saddle pads (last ditch effort to whiten). Problem is I recall you have to boil the item —I would boil water and put it into a big muck bucket (clean) and let the saddle pads soak. Worked great on breeches too --two problems --it will ultimately destroy the fabric. Fabric begins to shred. You might get one-two more wears out of white breeches --but then they are not going to be wearable. Second problem is this stuff is nasty to work with --really need a well-ventilated area. Follow directions closely.
Good luck!
An ounce of prevention…spray with Scotchguard before you wear them. This helps repel dirt and liquids.
Agree with everything above to treat/clean the stains.
One thing that I found very helpful for my son’s white baseball pants when they got red dirt ground in - Iron Out. I found it at Home Depot, made a solution according to the directions and soaked the pants for a couple of hours. Do all this outside or in a well ventilated area - this stuff reeks. If I had a similar stain on white breeches, I would probably try to avoid getting the full seat or knee patch areas soaked, but it didn’t have an effect on elastic.
I soak mine in cold soapy water with Orvus soap - it’s been a gamechanger for me.
Haven’t had to try to get stains out of them (fortunately), but Orvus has been really good for general cleaning.
Having been dating a polo player for the last 6 years, I have gotten REALLY good at getting stains out of whites!
I always soak in cold water first. Then mix up a paste of oxyclean, tide, and a bit of water as needed to make it a thick paste. Take a spook and “paint” the stains with the paste. I let sit for at least 30min, sometimes I will even leave overnight. Pop them in the washer in cold water and boom. Brand new whites!
I do this about 4 times a week during some parts of the year. Obviously the excessive washing will ultimately damage fabrics but what can we do?!
Who decided white was a good color around horses anyway?!
Great ideas! I show in FITS, and they have leather, so no oxyclean… I use a bar of yellow soap or plain old castile soap and rub all the stained areas and the front of the thighs where it seems I always get dirty. Then soak in warm water, and wash with PePeDe. Seems to work and doesn’t damage the leather . For gloves, I put them on, get them wet, and “wash” my hands with the bar soap, then wash in a mesh bag.
My method is really simple (assuming your breeches don’t have leather knee patches or seat). Scoop of OxyClean in a bucket of water - soak breeches for a couple days (I’ve left mine in for 5 or 6 days sometimes with no apparent ill effects). Wash like normal in the washing machine. My breeches look brand new every time.
Random side note: got a bunch of schooling breeches, white fullseat, from a consignment store in VA hunt country because the people in the area apparently have enough money that a small mark was a sign it was time for new pair of insert expensive brand here breeches.
Those were some nice breeches that lasted a long time of rough wear!
Like another poster mentioned, I spray my white show breeches with Scotchguard. I do use oxyiclean when needed.
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