How to care for leather jackets?

Regular conditioning and maintenance of Leather jackets and Clothing

Introduction

For the purpose of this article, there are two categories of leather (A) Porous leathers—lamb skin, sheepskin, etc. (B) Non-porous—mostly cattle.

While leather is always porous to some degree, some leathers remain particularly porous and “absorbent”. A drop of water on a light color leather jacket may instantly produce a dark spot while on a less porous leather, it will evaporate before ever penetrating leather. The care method is the same for porous and non-porous leather; only the quantity of each product used is varied.

Before you begin:

• Read this article from top to bottom.
• Evaluate if cleaning is needed.
• Evaluate if you need to cover up the buttons.

How to condition and care for your leather jacket?

Play tutorial video:

How to care and condition leather jackets?

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0. If needed clean leather with Aquila. Spray and wipe gently using a lint-free soft cloth. Do not scrub. Repeat if needed. Leave to dry.
1. To facilitate mixing, shake the URAD jar until the product liquefies.
2. Then for A) Porous leather: Mix 3/4 Tenderly for 1/4 URAD. And for B) Non-porous leather: Mix 1/2 Tenderly and 1/2 URAD.
   The lighter the color and the more porous your leather is, the more TENDERLY is used. A white lambskin jacket might be treated with 9/10 TENDERLY and only 1/10 URAD, if any.
   • Add some Costa Brava dye if the color is slightly faded (see Refreshing colors below) or if the color was not restored using URAD neutral and Tenderly mixture as above. Otherwise, for very badly damaged or faded color read this leather jacket restoration article.
3. Test your mixture in a small hidden area first.
4. Once you are satisfied with your test, apply with the applicator sponge provided, gently rubbing it in without scrubbing.
5. This conditioning should be repeated once or twice a year.

Additional information

Pointers to better understand the above recommendations:

Conditional steps:

• Protection
  The above method provides enough protection, and is normally done twice a year. Yet there are situations where it would be wise to invest more on protection. A good candidate for this would be a white or very light color lambskin jacket. Protecting it well, right from the start, would make it much easier to maintain and condition later.
  
  Whenever more protection is needed, apply SAHARA: preferably outdoors or in a well-ventilated area and preferably wearing a mask, spray 1 or 2 thin layers of Sahara on the jacket. Hang it to dry for 8 hours without moving the jacket (for each layer).
• Softening - Deep Moisturizing - Thick Leather
  For thick leather that may have hardened or be stiff, use a light coat of GRASSO and let it penetrate a few hours. Repeat if needed. Wipe off any excess oil that did not fully penetrate, then apply a thin coat of Tenderly (3/4) - Urad (1/4) mixture. GRASSO contains oils and may darken leather.
• Refreshing or Restoring Color
  If color is slightly faded, in step 2, add to the URAD-TENDERLY mixture as little COSTA BRAVA dye as as you can get away with to refresh the color —it can be as little as a few drops. But if the color is badly faded you can use up to 1/3 Costa-Brava for 1/3 Urad and 1/3 Tenderly, or if badly damaged follow the full restoration method. While this is not recommended, if Costa-Brava dye is not available, it could be substituted by a little Colored URAD but only to refresh color as it is not as permanent as dye.

Notes:

• Don’t worry about exact quantity. A little more URAD or TENDERLY will not make a huge difference.
• Quantity of product needed will vary widely, depending on the type of leather, the size of the jacket and how much product it absorbs.
• Every leather article is unique in terms of the raw materials, tanning methods and products employed in its manufacturing; we recommend a test always be made on a less visible part of the article first.

Conclusion

Leather is a very noble, comfortable and beautiful material that has incredible longevity, provided it is well cared for! These simple steps should help you enjoy all your leather clothing for many years!

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