11 stains: How to remove them from your business suit

You’re due in a meeting with a new client in an hour. You’ve just sloshed coffee onto your business suit. It’s inconvenient and just what you don’t need when you’re trying to make a good impression. Luckily, there’s a quick-fix for most stains. Here’s what to do:

1. Coffee. Never use soap. Drop some glycerin on the stain. Leave for a few minutes. Wash in lukewarm water. For older stains, mix the glycerin with egg yolk.
2. Pen ink. Rub with alcohol-soaked cotton.
3. Fruit. Use lemon juice.
4. Fat. Rub gently with salt.
5. Blood. Cold water will move fresh stains. If it’s dried, a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution will work.
6. Chocolate. Gentle rubbing with glycerin followed by rinsing with warm water.
7. Grass. Create a solution from two parts alcohol, three parts hot water and one part ammonia. Rub gently.
8. Make-up. Apply a pure-alcohol-soaked cloth.
9. Paint and shoe polish. For oil-based paint: apply turpentine gently, then rub with soapy cloth.
10. Lipstick. Rub sugared water on stain. Take off with a damp cloth.
11. Wine. Sprinkle salt on fresh stains, then rub with lemon juice and soap. Rinse and repeat.

We hope you find our advice useful. Elsewhere on our website, you can find information on caring for your business suit, selecting fabrics for business suits and on how to spot exceptional tailoring.