Most leather does not wear out. It dries out, or it gets treated with something that was never meant for it. Good leather care avoids both, and it does not take much time.
What leather actually needs
Leather is a skin, and like a skin it holds oils that keep the fibers moving against each other. Lose those oils and the fibers go brittle; the leather cracks at the fold lines first, because that is where it flexes. Everything below is in service of that one idea — keep it clean, keep it supplied, keep it dry but not arid.
A leather care routine, shorter than you expect
- Wipe it down. A dry cloth after use takes off the dust and salt that do the damage. This is the whole of most people’s leather care and it is enough for most pieces.
- Clean it properly two or three times a year. A barely damp cloth, a little mild soap if it is genuinely dirty, working in small sections. Never soak it.
- Let it dry away from heat. Not on a radiator, not in front of a fire, not in direct sun. Heat drives the oils out faster than any amount of wear.
- Condition it while it is still faintly damp. A thin coat of a neutral cream, worked in with your fingers, then buffed off with a cloth. Thin. More conditioner is not better conditioner — excess sits on the surface, attracts dirt and goes sticky.
What to keep away from it
Mink oil on anything dark. It darkens unevenly and there is no way back. It has its uses on rough work boots; it does not belong on a black collar or near a black snap cap.
Saddle soap as a routine cleaner. It is a stripper. Useful once on something genuinely filthy, harsh as a habit.
Solvents, alcohol wipes, household spray cleaners. They pull the finish off and the color with it.
Heat of any kind for drying. Worth saying twice.
Leather care includes the hardware
The metal ages on a different schedule to the leather, and cleaning one badly damages the other. Do not soak the leather to get at a tarnished cap, and do not take metal polish to an antique finish — that darkening is the finish, not dirt. There is a full explanation in our guide on caring for brass and nickel caps.
While you are wiping the metal, press around the base of each snap or rivet. If the leather there has gone soft or the hardware turns, that is the moment to deal with it — not after it has pulled through.
In leather care, storage does more than conditioning
Dry, ventilated, out of the sun, and not sealed in plastic. A plastic bag traps whatever moisture was in the air when you closed it and holds it against the leather and the metal both. A cloth bag or an open shelf is better. Hang or lay things flat so they are not folded hard in one place for months — a permanent crease is a future crack.
When something goes wrong
Water marks usually even out if you dampen the whole panel evenly and let it dry slowly. Scuffs on the surface often buff out with a cloth and a little conditioner. A cut or a tear needs a repairer, and the sooner it gets one the less it costs.
And if something we made has failed in a way that looks like our doing rather than fair wear, tell us.