How to Clean Leather Furniture So It Looks Like New | Architectural Digest

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Want to keep your leather goods in pristine shape? Then it is time you learned how to clean leather. You know that a few things are more luxurious than a handsome couch, but not if it is covered in grime and grease stains—blame it on Netflix binges with a bowl of buttery popcorn. And if you have kids, well, then you’re probably no stranger to ink stains that decorate your beloved leather chair.

Routine leather cleaning is good practice and easy to do.

Though it’s usually okay to wear your leather jacket to your favorite Italian restaurants, eating pizza on your fancy leather couch is a huge no-no. “Don’t have pizza, don’t have pasta, don’t have any kind of sauce, French or Italian, red sauce, butter sauce—it’s all pigmented and oily,” says Christophe Pourny, a New York–based restoration expert and the author of The Furniture Bible. “And oil is the worst thing you can do for leather,” he adds.

The good news is that routine leather cleaning is not rocket science (it only seems like it), and when done properly the material only looks and feels more comfortable. “The best way to think of leather is that it is like your skin,” says furniture designer Timothy Oulton. “Good-quality aniline leather is a natural, breathable material.” It changes over time, and much like the dermis, it requires regular care.

But do you have to dab leather conditioner or apply it in a circular motion? Are you coming on strong with the baking soda, damp cloths, and even rubbing alcohol when restoring the leather sofa to its original splendor? Which leather cleaners or special cleaning solutions are really necessary? Can household products like white vinegar help or hurt with leather care?

Don’t worry: AD answers these questions and breaks down leather cleaning into easy to follow steps and discloses expert tips to bringing those seen-better-days pieces back to life.

Dust leather couches and all other leather furniture with a dry cloth and give them a monthly application of a leather conditioner or similar leather-cleaning product to keep the material soft and moisturized. It’ll also help keep cracks, stains and other discoloration from setting in.

If you’re not sure which products—leather conditioner, leather serum, and leather cream—are best for your piece of furniture, keep the following in mind. In general, leather conditioner is a kind of regular base treatment that moisturizes leather and keeps it supple deep down, but it’s not a product that you should expect to give your leather a straight-from-the-showroom shine. Leather serum is a product for leather care that’s often used to rejuvenate leather but also contains ingredients that add a protective coat (though there’s some debate whether it’s truly effective in the long run). Leather cream is used to achieve a soft shine on the surface of a leather product and often comes with pigments to restore an item’s original color. This product is often used on leather shoes and boots, for example.

Darker stains, like those seemingly impossible-to-remove ink stains from a pen, are another story. Pourny says that “a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol can do the trick.” But if you’re not careful, you can make the stain worse: Be sure you apply the rubbing alcohol directly on the stain spot, preferably using a small, circular motion so the alcohol doesn’t spread the stain onto more of the leather.

You can also use a mix of equal parts white vinegar and warm water to make sure your leather items are in tip-top shape. This solution is especially great when it comes to wiping away grime from decorative leather pillows.

Most leather cleaning methods require household products, along with a few specialty leather-cleaning items. Depending on the leather surfaces, follow these steps to banish stains.

To tackle light, mild stains, dip a clean, damp washcloth in soapy, warm water and use it to wipe away the stain on your leather. You may need a specialty soap. “Specific leather soaps exist, [they’re] usually called saddle soaps,” Pourny says.

Don’t leave wet spots as you clean leather furniture.

Once you’ve finished leather cleaning, you have to make sure you’re not leaving too much surface moisture. “Carefully dry the leather with another clean, dry cloth to avoid any mildew,” Pourny notes. For best results, leave the spot undisturbed overnight.

Remoisturize the material by applying the leather conditioner or cream with a clean cloth. Let it sink in, then buff to a shine. If you’re wondering if leather conditioner actually works—it does! Think of it as the food (the veggies and whole grains, even) for the leather of your couch, nourishing and maintaining its overall health. Try Leather Honey leather conditioner as it penetrates deep into the material to restore and also works as a water-repellent for unexpected spills.

Use leather cream as well—it typically comes in colors, which help restore the look and luster of different colors of leather. But because the color of the cream in the tin doesn’t always exactly match the color of the leather, you should test a new cream on a small, inconspicuous area then wait to see how the affected area looks to make sure it’s the cream you want to use on the rest of your leather upholstery (or leather jacket, leather shoes, or any leather items, really).

Unlike the leather material used in handbags or shoes, furniture is actually more delicate and less protected against staining from water and other liquids. If it pours, keep it away from your leather furniture. “Avoid everything that is very wet, and I’m talking water, anything water-based, and anything too oily,” Pourny says. “Use the driest, driest products. You spread it over leather, you don’t pour it.” This includes mink oil on your couch or office chair. “It’s something that people commonly use for leather, but it’s greasy, it’s bad, it’s almost like silicone,” he continues. “Leather creams and shoe polish have drying agents so they don’t leave a greasy residue or go too deep into the leather and create stains. Mink oil is reserved for bridle leather and really tough leather.”

If you do accidentally use something that is too oily (or find a grease stain), try applying a bit of baking soda to the spot (cornstarch can work too). Rub in a circular motion and let sit for a few hours as it absorbs the grease. Then wipe away with a soft cloth.

Now that you know how to clean leather like a pro, here are a few more tips on how to care for leather furniture so that it lasts a lifetime.

To treat specific distressed areas, find a treatment made for your type of leather. Pourny, for example, sells an Old World–inspired leather serum and cream, which can be applied with a cloth to soften the leather and smooth scratches, while Oulton recommends Leather Masters, which is good for most leathers (except nubuck) and protects against everyday soiling.

Regardless of what you use, a light hand is always a good idea. Find an inconspicuous area to dab a new leather cleaner. “Less is more when applying any product to leather,” Pourny says. “Test a small area first. For colored leather, be extra careful and know that any product will most likely darken the leather.”

Aniline-dyed leather furniture, in which the dye penetrates the entire material, is not only durable, it’s actually meant to look lived-in, Oulton says. “Rather than covering and sealing the surface with a colored coating, we work dyes and waxes into the leather by hand. As a result, we feel like the furniture wears in and not out. It’s very easy to live with, and it develops a rich patina over time.”

“In most cases, it is ambient conditions that will lead to the cracking of leather—extreme temperatures and lack of moisture,” Oulton says. “Placing a sofa right under your air-conditioning or next to a radiator or in front of a roaring fire is going to dry out the leather.” Sunlight can also have this effect, Pourney adds, so avoid putting furniture right next to a window or glass door, or hang light-blocking curtains.

Cats, and sometimes dogs, will use leather as a (very expensive) scratching post, so teach them to stay off the sofa. “I think this is the biggest cause of damage we hear of from customers calling the studio,” Pourny says.

If the leather gets cut or torn, turn to a professional for help. Don’t run the risk of damaging the leather further by trying to fix it—cleaning leather is a DIY job, but repairing it is not. “For large cuts, we recommend contacting a professional who can mix color and texture by applying heat, and make repairs to the leather,” Pourny continues.

If none of the above work, go to a respected shoe repair shop or leather care expert for help. “Even if it’s a bit controversial, avoid bringing your [piece] to your local cleaner, even if they advertise suede and leather care,” Pourny says. “I do not know anybody that had great luck with them, and the damage will be irreversible.”

While many pieces of furniture may look like leather, it’s possible that they’re made from a synthetic, leather-like material called pleather (a portmanteau for “plastic leather”). In that case, the above advice may not apply, and caring for these pieces requires different tactics.

Fake leather is manufactured by taking plastic, such as polyurethane or PVC, and treating it with various materials in a process that mimics the grain and feel of real leather. Among the alternative to traditional leathers and pleathers are plant-based leathers, which are also called eco-leather or vegan leather. In this case, the base material could be cork, cactus fibers, apple peels, mushrooms, pineapple fibers, or other sources, typically processed into a slurry and treated or layered with various chemicals (sometimes including plastics) to form a usable faux-leather product.

Pleather requires different care.

There are a few ways to distinguish between the real thing from an animal and a synthetic leather. For one, fake leather won’t have the distinct smell of leather. It also bounces back into its molded form quickly in a way that real leather doesn’t—like human skin, real leather stretches and wrinkles with repeated use. Fake leather isn’t porous like real leather is, either, so if you pour a little water on fake leather, you’ll likely see the water bead and roll off, whereas you’ll notice a little water soaking into real leather (unless it’s been successfully treated to be water-resistant, of course).

Time will usually reveal what’s fake or real, as well. Real leather, if treated correctly, can last decades, while fake leather often only lasts two to five years. You’ll notice your fake leather couch’s fabric starting to crack or flake and peel, and it may deteriorate especially badly in direct sunlight.

If you’re set on learning whether your furniture is real leather or fake leather right away and every other test has failed to offer insight, find a small piece of the material in an inconspicuous place and take a flame to it. Real leather chars with fire, and you’ll smell something like burning hair. Fake leather, on the other hand, will melt.

If you do have fake leather, you still want to take care of it the right way—your favorite settee probably won’t lose that status just because it came from an apple tree, right? As with most things you probably own, you must avoid harsh chemicals—a simple wash with warm water and a soft cloth is good for routine cleanups, just like with real leather. Use mild soapy water, if necessary. Follow up by drying off the material with a microfiber.

Keep your faux leather out of direct sunlight to prevent fading and brittleness. Heat sources can permanently damage pleather, so sliding your expensive faux leather recliner right next to the boiling-hot radiator in winter? Not a great idea.

There are conditioners made specifically for faux leather, but you can also use regular leather conditioners to keep your faux leather supple and moist. But since faux leather is a nonporous material, you’ll likely need to use less—carefully follow the product’s instructions.