Natural leather chamois have been used to dry vehicles and glass since the early 18th century, where they were worn by French “footmen” responsible for the care and cleaning of carriages. They are no less effective or useful today for drying the finishes and windshields of modern vehicles. Natural chamois cloths have been, and still are, used because they are durable, extremely soft, remove dirt and trap it in the cloth away from the surface, and effectively release dirt when rinsed. And while many products have been introduced as better or less expensive substitutes for chamois in recent years, none have the combination of these characteristics that make natural leather chamois so useful and effective.
What is a natural leather chamois?
A suede, like any leather product, can last for years with proper care. A genuine leather suede fabric is defined by the National Standards Body in the United Kingdom (British Standard BS 6715: 1991) and, in the United States, by the United States Federal Standard (CS99-1970) as “sheepskin split meat or lamb tanned only with oil”; typically fish oils. Although tanned in many different countries, the best chamois hides come from New Zealand. However, because they may be tanned in some other country, many chamois originating in New Zealand are labeled “made in” or “product of” some other country; this is a result of the regulations governing labeling. A genuine leather suede will have a slight fish oil odor and will fade if left in direct sunlight.
The softness of suede
Suede leather is one of the softest materials available for drying a car or truck. Like the suede leather from which the original fabrics were made, sheepskin or lambskin has a naturally open fiber structure. The open fiber structure has spaces or voids between the fibers that, combined with the frayed ends of the fiber, give the suede its softness. When tanned with fish oils, soaps form in the loose weave of the leather fiber. These soaps give the fabric a slippery feel when wet and create a “cushioning” layer between the body of the chamois and the surface of the vehicle. It’s the fish oils themselves that make it extremely absorbent and long-lasting.
Although a genuine leather chamois becomes stiff when it dries, it can be softened again by dampening the cloth. To re-soften a chamois without getting it wet, simply rub it against itself or hold it on either side and run it along the edge of a clean, hard surface.
Napa Suede Natural
The spaces created naturally by the loose weave of sheepskin and the frayed ends of the fibers protruding from the weave create the “fuzz” or hair of a chamois. The nap is what gives a material a soft feel and provides the pockets in the material in which dirt and sand are trapped. The natural wool in a chamois and the soaps created by the tanning process are what trap and hold dirt and water in a leather chamois. A high degree of nap is essential for any car drying product to avoid scratching or marring the finish. The advantage that a natural leather chamois has over synthetic materials is that it not only traps dirt, sand, and water, but then releases the abrasive material when rinsed. Many synthetics are good at trapping dirt and grit, but then don’t release it effectively when rinsed; causing the material to become increasingly abrasive over time.
Suede leather is extremely absorbent.
A quality natural leather chamois will hold, on average, more than 5 times its own weight in water, while retaining the ability to be easily rinsed and wrung out. A 20 oz cloth will hold 0.8 gallons of water. The loose weave of the fiber in chamois leather will not only release more dirt and grit than synthetics, it will also release more water when wrung out, making it an ideal material for drying a car.
Chamois as a renewable resource
In addition to being soft, absorbent and durable, a natural sheepskin chamois is an organic and natural by-product of the sheep farming industry. In addition to providing a large percentage of the world’s food and natural fiber production (in the form of wool), sheep farming also produces numerous essential by-products such as lanolin, tallow, gelatin, and leather, to name a few. It is a renewable and sustainable resource that has been an essential part of the global economy for several millennia and promises to remain so for the foreseeable future.
Resume
Due to its natural properties, a leather chamois remains the most cost-effective, safe and efficient product available for drying a car today. Although many newer materials and products have been introduced since chamois came into use in the early 1700s, none have the unique combination of properties that make chamois ideal for drying vehicles; And all but the most recently introduced have finally fallen out of use.
With proper maintenance, a natural leather chamois can last for years. They are also extremely absorbent and reduce drying time. Natural chamois cloths are extremely soft, especially when wet, and protect the finish that dries with soaps infused into the fibers opening up during the tanning process and trapping surface dirt and grit in the natural nap. So, regardless of the many new products that are continually available to dry a car, a natural leather chamois is still the best and safest cloth for drying cars.