Men’s dress pants are often made from fine fabrics that need to be properly cared for and professionally cleaned or laundered. But even the finest dress pants can become victim of a blob of chewing gum. In order to prevent further damage or permanent staining, carefully follow a cleaning method involving ice and scraping that will help you restore the dress pants to their original quality.

Place the pants into the freezer to harden the gum. If your freezer is especially dirty or tightly packed, then run an ice cube over the top of the gum until the gum gets hard.

Scrape the gum off of the pants with the back of a butter knife. Be careful not to rib or cut the pants. When the gum is frozen, you should be able to scrape it off in one large piece or several brittle pieces. If it is taking you longer than you expected and the gum gets soft again, place the pants back into the freezer or freeze the gum with another piece of ice until it is hard enough to remove the remaining piece.

Rub the area where the gum was stuck with a dry-cleaning solvent. Use only solvents or detergents that are approved for the specific pants’ fabric.

Rinse the solvent or detergent out of the pants with hot water.

Apply a pre-wash stain remover to the pants if you are going to launder the pants at home and then launder them as you normally would. Otherwise, take the pants to a dry cleaner to have them professionally laundered.