Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cleaning and leather

Leather purse cleaning

demiurge — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:58:50 -0800

I need advice for cleaning a water stain on a leather purse. A drop of rain fell on my fiancee's purse and caused a stain. The purse is made of very soft leather and I did not expect it to leave a mark after drying, but it has been several days and the dark spot is only slightly lighter. You can see pictures of the spot here and here. I assume it was only a drop of rain since it was raining lightly that day, but the only other possibility would be a drop falling from a overhang.

I know nothing about leather care and I got conflicting advice from different sites from a Google search. Can you give me any advice on how to return the purse to its original condition based on your leather experience?

J'ai une chaise longue et poussiéreux.

Admiral Haddock — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:24:12 -0800

How to care for an LC4 chaise longue? I recently picked up a used reproduction black leather Le Corbusier LC4 chaise longue made by Cassina. It is pretty dusty (particularly on the black support frame), and the leather doesn't have much luster. The whole thing could use some sprucing up: the leather, the black support, and the chrome frame.

Does anyone have any idea how to clean something like this? An earlier askme suggested diluted dish soap for leather, which doesn't seem right to me. The guy who sold me the chair also to me said that Windex etc. does damage to the chrome. I have no idea what to do about the black painted base.

Any ideas?

How to clean a leather wallet?

destrius — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:51:08 -0800

Asking for friend: How do I clean a yellow Fossil leather wallet that is starting to turn brown from use? I have a leather wallet I purchased from Fossil a few months ago. It is a women's wallet, made of a soft leather that I assume has been dyed yellow. When I bought it, the yellow was a bright yellow, but after a few months of use, it's beginning to turn brown/grey from what I guess is dirt. It also seems to be picking up a bit of the colour from my jeans. Here's a link to a similar wallet.

When I used a normal leather cleaner on it, the colour changed from yellow to an orange-ish yellow, as if the yellow pigment was being washed away and the natural brown of the leather was showing through. That kind of scared me away from trying other kinds of leather cleaners. There aren't really many inconspicuous spots on the wallet to test on either.

Any suggestions on how I can return my wallet to its original clean colour, and also any regular maintenance tips?

How to get ballpoint pen mark off leather jacket?

zembla3 — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 12:39:13 -0800

What is the best way to get a light ballpoint ink mark out of a leather jacket without discoloring or otherwise damaging the leather? It's a black pen mark on a brown jacket.

NYC leather coat cleaning options?

mkultra — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 20:48:39 -0800

Where can I get a leather jacket (black car coat) cleaned? NYC, specifically (Brooklyn, better yet). It's not Gucci, but it's fairly nice and needs an inside-out cleaning. I'm leery of taking it to my local dry cleaner, which like all places here it seems, is just a storefront for a service that picks up the stuff, takes it somewhere central for processing, and brings back.

How to get rid of bad smell on leather bag?

sachabright — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 08:27:03 -0800

How do I get rid of an unpleasant leather smell on a bag bought in Morocco? I think the leather is either poorly tanned or newly made so it has a really strong animal smell.

Removing smoke smell from a leather jacket.

Tubes — Mon, 22 Dec 2003 14:19:49 -0800

I have a nice black leather jacket that has absorbed a bit of smoke smell each time I've gone out downtown, and it doesn't seem to let any of it go. It's gotten pretty stanky. The only advice I'm finding online is to rub baking soda into it, but I'd wonder if it would ever look black again after that. Febreze is not recommended for leather. The jacket is that very soft, pliable glove-leather -- not heavy-duty Harley gear. Anyone have experience with this?