A majority of modern sofas are made of varying leather materials, aniline, semi-aniline, or pigmented. Leather is not a synthetic material. Rather, it is a natural material. In principle, leather is so durable. In practice, it is so vulnerable and can easily get damaged, wear and tear. One thing in common for all types of leather couch: leather needs regular care.
Just like the human skin, to maintain leather natural and healthy features, we use proper care on a regular basis. Without care, leather sofa will quickly lose its attractive appearance – it is getting dirty, dry out or loses its color intensity.
Be mindful that direct sunlight UV rays penetrate to our skin tissue and structure of leather alike. Although leather does not get sunburn, but depending on type of leather, the leather tissue can crumble. One can also assume that direct sunlight can darken the leather. Apart from direct UV exposure, place your leather couch close to heat sources can also be damaging to the leather material. Each hide has its own water supply, a natural moisture level, so to speak. For a long direct exposure to heat, this natural moisture level would be disturbed. There will be a dehydrogenation of the leather structure.
A leather sofa should be placed in ventilated and dry place (extreme dry or wet leather will accelerate the aging). And avoid direct sunlight and you don’t want to put the sofa below the air conditioning, which will cause leather to harden, fade or even crack. Below are our tips in detail on how to clean leather sofas.
· When you purchase a new leather couch, clean the surface with lightly damped, soft towel or cloth, to gently wipe off the dust or dirt. Make sure to avoid cleaning with water. Then you use leather lotion and protective spray immediately to help prevent permanent stains from occurring, because it forms a protective layer on the leather surface, so that the dirt cannot walk its way into the “dermal pores”. We highly recommend you test a leather lotion and spray in a hidden area of the sofa before using.
· For leather stains, avoid using soap, cleaning detergents. The last thing you want to do is soak the stain with water. This may cause more damage to your leather sofa than the stain itself. Instead, you want to wipe stain with a clean wet cloth or sponge, and let it air dry naturally.
· If you spill beverage on the leather surface, use a clean cloth or sponge to suck it, and then wipe with a damp cloth.
· For grease stains, use a dry cloth to clean. We recommend you first tab and then blot instead of wiping, to avoid spread grease over. Then you apply leather lotion to remove the remaining grease.
· Leather can absorb dyes easily, so keep grease, ballpoint pen, and ink away from the sofa. Like your skin, leather is also susceptible to scratch, avoid using sharp objects. If minor scratch happens, gently buff the leather surface with your fingers. If you find holes, broken, or crack, refrain from repairing it by yourself. Contact the professional service staff.
· For daily care, you can use damp towel to wipe the leather surface, combined with using household vacuum.
Before start cleaning your leather couch, you need to make sure the type of leather the couch is made of. For example, when cleaning suede, the above methods will be different. Suede can be as delicate as it is beautiful. To remove dry stains, we suggest using a pencil eraser. For other stains, you rub the suede with a damp towel, or brush over the suede surface with a special suede brush. Here we have a tip for any household when cleaning any suede product – apply a small amount of white vinegar to the stains and use the cloth to scrub away the stains. Please be noted that most commercially available leather oils, lotions, cleaners are not suitable for suede. Use special suede cleaner instead.
Please keep it in mind that you do not clean your leather couch with leather lotion too frequently, because this would make leather to crack and wear prematurely. If necessary, apply leather chemical every three months. Ashley Clarke