Leather Care?

[skeeder]

I hope to appeal to the "Buy It for Life" people who have nice leather products they wish to keep forever (shoes and jackets come to my mind).

I have a wonderful Reed Leather Jacket it has reached 12 years old and I've never done a darn thing to it either (honestly...hands down one of my best purchases ever).  I wanted to put the few bucks into it to make sure the leather stays nice.  Now, it has already faded a little  in the elbows so my concern is not so much as the color as keeping the leather in good shape.

What do you use?  I've really only polished shoes with leather cream and am getting turned around when it comes to this.  So brushs, cloths, etc...no clue.

[lthenderson]

I just use an old rag and some leather conditioning cream you can find in just about any leather goods store and dozens of places online. I've used a number of different kinds and they all seem to work about the same.

[Dave1442397]

I have leather goods up to 30 years old that still look like new because I treat them with Lexol every so often. I usually do jackets/boots/shoes once a year, and leather furniture every six months.

I switched to a Griots Garage product this year because it was highly recommended on the car forums I visit. I bought a gallon and a couple of spray bottles from the dollar store. It should last quite a while.

https://www.amazon.com/Griots-Garage-10964-Leather-Gallon/dp/B06W9P5Z2X/ref=sr_1_6?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1523631629&sr=1-6&keywords=griots+garage+3+in+1+leather

[lexde]

If it's dark, mink oil to condition, if it's not, then it may darken the leather so avoid it.
If it's cracking or dry, neatsfoot oil, but again, may darken it so be careful.
If it's dirty, Lexol or Leather New saddle soap, clean wrung-out sponge, follow instructions.
Follow with a light conditioner, Lexol.

I prefer leather new to anything else for cleaning, and if you do it correctly you shouldn't need to condition it.

[Rubic]

If it's dark, mink oil to condition, if it's not, then it may darken the leather so avoid it.

+1

Mink oil is awesome.  It kept my motorcycle jacket looking
great for over 20 years, long after I gave up riding motorcycles
and switched to riding bicycles.

[adamsmt]

Leather care is very important, I've got it ever since I was a student at the university.

You should always remember, that the skin doesn't "love" a lot of things. For example, leather things shouldn't gather dust. The smallest particles easily penetrate into the pores and contribute leather articles to the loss of appearance. But polyethylene and another similar packaging, often used for storage, is also not an option. Leather things should "breathe", so it's better to put them in a  linen bag, or simply put it in a tightly closed closet.

When it is raining outside, a leather jacket, coat, raincoat and other things from this material should not be worn. But if the product is still very wet, you should carefully wipe it with a dry clean cloth and leave to dry at room temperature, in no case using heaters!

Here is a very useful article on Wikihow: https://www.wikihow.com/Care-for-Leather.

So be careful with your favorite leather clothes!

[acroy]

https://pecard.com/

Pecards products. Awesome, a little goes a long way, pro-quality stuff the pros use to care for zillion-dollar classic cars etc.

Mink oils etc can go rancid and go acidic, actually damaging the leather. I had this happen to my boots for years, took a while to figure out what was going on.

I have 15yr old leather boots and sofas that look dam-near new with a little Pecards every few months

good luck!

[lefty]

Pecards.

[JLee]

I used this on a pair of older leather boots (~12 years) that had seen nothing but the occasional application of mink oil. It darkened the leather some but it looks much happier: https://www.amazon.com/Leather-Honey-Conditioner-Furniture-Accessories/dp/B003L2ZVRG