What do I clean a leather sofa with?
This is the most commonly asked question over the 25 years of working in the industry, restoring leather sofas and leather car interiors. Whether it be a leather sofa, leather armchair or leather car interior there are many products on the market specially formulated to clean these leather types.
How do you know what leather cleaner to buy?
First, determine what leather type you have. You will want to purchase the correct leather cleaner for that type of leather. Then a good place to start is reading reviews of leather cleaners available to buy online. See how customers rate their performance.
Leather cleaning Products available to the public are purposefully not strong cleaning agents so they do not break down the protective leather finish applied in the manufacturing stage. This would potentially damage the leather and cause premature ageing.
If the leather cleaning product does not clean off soiling then there is a pretty good chance that the leather requires professional attention.
What to do when a leather cleaner doesn’t work?
Most enquiries made regarding cleaning leather furniture are when customers explain that the products they have bought do not work.
These cleaning products may no longer work as the leather’s protective top finish/protective coating has worn off. This happens over the years and will occur with general use or if the incorrect products have been used to clean the leather, accelerating the leather’s ware-ability.
A good strong Leather cleaner
You generally get what you pay for, so when buying a good and trusted brand of leather cleaner it’s more likely to be fit for purpose.
Once you’ve sourced a strong Leather cleaner solution, the leather item will require a treatment/protection to apply after the cleaning process has been carried out. These stronger cleaners are used as trade cleaners due to this protective coating that would need to be reapplied.
How to protect a leather sofa
It’s usually best to protect your leather sofa or leather car interior from new. As stated above the leather type must be identified first. A leather care kit with a cleaning solution and a leather protection cream is ideal.
If your leather cannot be cleaned by yourself to a satisfactory level then professional attention is required.
Using anything stronger to clean the leather may at first appear to work but the leather will only get dirtier quicker as the protective finish is being removed using this alternative cleaner.
As time goes by, continual cleaning with this method will begin to remove the pigment colouring (which you may notice on a cleaning cloth). This is a sure sign to get in touch with us for professional help.
We can professionally clean and restore leather after assessing what action is required to provide the very best result possible.
At The Leather Expert we can offer many solutions;
BRONZE
Professionally clean & degrease followed by the application of Stain Guardian.
(Stain Guardian is a coating that conditions & protects your leather against perspiration, dye transfer from clothes & general soiling)
SILVER
Professionally clean & degrease followed by the application of a resin top coat with a hardening agent, simulating the manufacturer’s protective leather finish.
(Stain Guardian is also available but would have to be applied after 48 hours of resin application)
GOLD
Professionally clean, degrease & recolour the leather followed by the application of a resin top coat with a hardening agent, simulating the manufacturer’s protective leather finish.
(Stain guardian is also available but would have to be applied after 48 hours of resin application)
