Keeping Your Coats and Jackets Stain Free

A coat or jacket can attract many stubborn stains, from mud, to coffee and ink stains, and it can be tough to know where to start with stain removal. This guide will take you through how you can remove those nasty marks without damaging the fabric, so your winter wear doesn’t get relegated to the back of the wardrobe. Whether the stain is fresh or has been dried on for days, we have the solution for removing it.

Before you begin to remove a mud or soil stain, you need to let it dry. If you try to tackle it whilst it is still fresh, you could potentially spread the stain, making it much bigger and more difficult to remove. Once the mud or soil has dried, scrape the larger lumps off so you are left with a smooth surface to work on. Mix Vanish Oxi Action Powder with some water and apply it generously to the stain. Once you see an improvement, run the stain under a hot tap whilst giving it a good scrub.

If the stain is still showing, soak the garment in cold water for up to an hour, adding more Vanish if needed. This will remove any leftover mud or soil that has remained behind on the fabric. Once the garment has finished soaking (and only if the jacket is washing machine safe) then put it on a regular wash in the machine with an added scoop of Vanish to ensure that any traces of stains are eliminated.

The inventor of the biro has a lot to answer for. Their tendency to leak in your pocket makes them as frustrating as they are convenient, and they have signalled the end of many jackets and shirts in the past. The stain removal process can seem impossible when you have no idea where to begin, but ink stains are very simple and can be removed hassle free.

Start by rubbing some Vanish Oxi Action Gel into the fabric. Once the stain has been thoroughly covered and the gel sets to work, leave it for up to four hours. Keep checking the stain for any improvements, as when the stain has vanished the residue can simply be rinsed out under the hot water tap.

There is a surprisingly large amount of science behind why coffee stains are so tricky to get out. The reason is that coffee particles clump together as spheres, which means that the liquid evaporates very quickly and evenly from the outside, leaving behind the concentrated particles in the middle – deposited on clothing fibres. These deposits show up as stains on the fabric.

If you get a splash of coffee on your jacket, soak the area with cold water as soon as you can. Then, when you get home (if you’re out), rub Vanish Oxi Action Powder into the stain, letting it set and getting to work. If your jacket is machine washable, then wash it with detergent and an extra scoop of Vanish to get rid of any faint marks that have been left behind. If not, carefully rinse the area with cold water, until you can rub the area without seeing any suds.

There you have it, a guide to some of the most common stains that can mark your jackets. Now you’ll be able to remove ink, coffee, and mud and soil stains without a worry.

1. Add one scoop (60g) to 4L of water.
2. Soak colours for 1 hour max. 
3. After soaking, wash as usual or rinse thoroughly. For best results on stains, rub before rinsing.