Does anyone else experience heat dry rot of Shoes & Clothing in walk-in closet
 

My leather and rubber soles in shoes and leather blazers have signs of disintegration while in my walk in closet.
I have a fan in my closet to circulate air in summer months but it obviously hasn’t helped. Any suggestions to address this issue appreciated.

Never had a problem still have my wool p-coat issued to me 1968 fine also could pairs of Sperry Topsiders 10+ leather and sole fine along with leather coats humidity in our home usually around 50%. I treat leather with saddle soap and Sperry with neatsfoot oil

I would take them to someone who knows leather and seek advice. Perhaps a place that restores leather car interiors. The oil in leather dries out and it should be treated. If, there is a window in your closet the sun will damage leather. You may be running your AC too dry. Suggestions are like 50%. A fan in your closet, further dries things. I used to sell fans for another purpose. To have any effect,
you need to have some way to allow air it. Otherwise it is like trying to suck air out of a coke bottle.

Do you not have an air conditioned closet? I don’t own anything leather so no issues for me.

I am a leather crafter and I have probably two dozen whole sides of leather and several bins of small pieces stored in the guest room closet and so far have noticed no problems whatsoever.

Elastic in clothes gives out, at some point. Some in TV some up north, where heat is at 74 daytime, 66 at night. guessing quality of product is the issue. None of our leather shoes or jackets are a problem

I’ve been in Florida for many years. I have very expensive leather jackets and Italian leather boots and shoes , I don’t ever have the AC on at night when sleeping and never under 78 in the day , I have never had a problem with my clothes or shoes. The problem I think is not the closet but maybe the quality of the leather

You don’t by any chance have a solar tube in the closet? Long periods of exposure to UV rays could be the culprit.

You should have a supply air outlet in the closet. If so, check to make there is air coming through the outlet. If you leave the closet door closed, you may want want to replace the door with a louvered door. Also, I would suggest that you buy a 10 dollar device from Home Depot that will measure the temperature and humidity in the closet.

We stored the remainder of our household goods and most all our land clothing for seven years while we cruised by sailboat. The storage unit was "air conditioned" but located in a hot, humid climate. When we moved back ashore all fabrics and husband's SAS brand shoes were intact but other shoes, belts, purses were in various stages of disintegrating.

I noticed that certain stuff sorta melts in my garage. The rubber like "bumpers" on my bluetooth speakers are disintegrating and are very sticky. Same thing with the grips on a few metal asps laying on a shelf.