Is leather easy to clean?
Here’s the answer…
A consumer is frequently told that the leather they purchased is low maintenance and can easily be wiped off with mild soap and water. No further service explanation is given.
Several problems exist with this approach.
Low maintenance is usually interpreted as no maintenance.
“Protected” leathers have a durable pigmented finish, but not indestructible. this durable finish initially allows consumers to clean leather with almost anything and get an immediate satisfactory result. The use of these products, not designed for leather, may break down this durable finish causing the pigment to crack and peel. Improper maintenance directly leads to expensive restoration or replacement.
Aniline and nubuck leathers are not low maintenance. These leathers are extremely porous and should be cleaned thoroughly on a regular basis to protect your investment.
Leather is purchased primarily for the most active rooms in the house. This choice makes good maintenance a high priority to protect the looks of your investment and for prolonging the life of your leather.
The solutions to these problems are two-fold: Leather Master products and Apex Floor & Furniture Care, a Bridgepoint Certified Leather Specialist. Leather Master products are safe and effective for leather with over 300 tanneries and manufacturers endorsing these products.
Apex Floor & Furniture Care Leather Specialists have been thoroughly trained in how to use the entire line of Leather Master products on all of the different leather types.
There are four different types of soil to be aware of before you clean leather:
Consider the dust that builds up on a coffee table or desk over a week’s time. This same dust is being deposited on your leather. To this dust, add the airborne cooking oils and atmospheric pollution that is present, to some degree, in every home.
This includes the outside tracking of the common dirt, sand and vegetable fibers from plants. These are carreid into the house in various ways, which can be transferred to leather directly or indirectly from kids and animals.
The inks from newsprint in newspapers will readily be deposited on leather. Clothes such as denims will lose some of their dye onto leather in a process called crocking. The direct approach from the occasional leaky pen or the aspiring 2-year old artist should not be forgotten.
Body oils from both humans and animals cause soils to attach and hold onto leather. Hair and hand oils are easily transferred to the arms and head cushions of leather furniture.
Leather Master consumer kits
Available from your Leather Specialist, Apex Floor & Furniture Care, will help you take care of atmospheric and common soils when used regularly. The soft cleaner in the consumer kit, however, is not designed for dyes, inks, oils, and grease. Strong cleaner, along with a series of professional spotters enables us as your Leather Specialist to deal effectively with these more serious soils. Call or e-mail us if you’d like to purchase one of our Leather Cleaning Kits!
Invariably scuffs, scratches, surface cuts, and fading are other problems that will happen periodically to leather. Apex Floor & Furniture Care, your Certified Leather Specialists, are also trained to use Leather Master products to address these problems. Leather Master has 60 stock pigment colors to repair the inevitable scrape or scratch on protected leathers. Aniline leathers with similar problems can be addressed through either the use of a revitalizant or 7 stock aniline dyes. Custom computer color matching can be done whenever appropriate at custom rates. Dryness to leather can be effectively treated with the addition of the appropriate revitalizant and will be more necessary in drier climates. Even rare problems like mold and spew can be addressed by Apex Floor & Furniture Care with specifically designed Leather Master products.
There is a lot of confusion over some very basic information that is needed to CLEAN AND RESTORE LEATHER. The question: What type of leather is this?
Many thanks to producers of Leather furniture that work with Bridgepoint/Leather Master to classify the Leather into these three basic categories using Leather Master’s cleaning codes and deck labels: ANILINE (A), NUBUCK (N), PROTECTED (P). We will give you definitions of these Leather types. To properly use the products and achieve the desired results, it is important that the cleaner is able to identify the Leathers. That’s why you want to choose Apex Floor & Furniture Care as your Certified Leather Specialist!
TERMS OF LEATHER
These are Leathers that are colored with transparent dyestuff. This means you are able to see the actual surface grain markings. These Leathers have very little or no protective treatments applied to them.
These Leathers have combined the best aspects of a natural product (Leather) and have utilized tannery technology to create a product that is more uniform in appearance and color.
These are actually Aniline Leathers that the surface has been brushed, and have created a texture similar to velvet on Leather upholstery or fabric. Suede is the “flesh” side of a piece of Leather and NuBuck is an effect that is done to the grain side. Because NuBucks and Aniline Leathers are alike, it’s sometimes hard to tell them apart.
Leather tanneries and manufacturers world-wide recommend proper cleaning and protection treatements every six months to extend the life of the leather and prevent premature cracking, peeling and color loss.
Call Apex Floor & Furniture Care, your Certified Leather Specialists, today so they can serve you with “Peak of Performance” services for all of your Leather furnishings — in your Home, Boat, RV and Automobiles!