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how to care for your Leather The Easy Way

*Explainer Youtube video coming soon*

So you just bought an awesome wallet from Strauss And Co. Now you have to take care of it, so that it can take care of you for the rest of your life. Unless your dog gets ahold of it. Unfortunately my lifetime warrantee doesn’t cover pet-induced damage… That being said. Here are some things to keep in mind as a new S&C leather owner. 
1. Handle leather products with clean hands. 

This might sound kind of stupid but it makes sense. The more dirt you have on your fingers the bigger the chances are that those dirt particles are going to embed themselves into your beautiful leather and leave a permanent mark.

2. Apply a cleaner specially made for leather. 

Use a “soft soap” that will only remove grime and filth from your product. Harsh soap may cause cracks in the leather when it dries. Use a damp cloth with soap in circular motions. Harsh cleaners are things like citrus soaps, bleach, acetones or similar products. The more balanced the PH is of the soap, the better. Also look out for soaps that have colors, these might look like they won’t leave any color behind but as soon as the leather dries out, it will cause discolouration. 

3. Moisturise your bag with a leather conditioner to keep it supple.

Before you apply the conditioner, leave your item in the sun for about 10 minutes or heat it up with a blowdryer (I, however, don’t condone theft of your wife’s hairdryer) This helps the waxes melt deeper into the leather fibres. Beeswax or  neatsfoot based conditioners are great for vegetable tan full-grain leathers because they moisturize and seal it from water damage and stains. 

4. Rule of the day with new, fresh leather:

 

Wax once a day for a week.
After, once a week for a month.
After, once a month for a year.

5. Remove stains as soon as you notice them.

Temporary stains left unwashed will turn into permanent stains. There are exceptions to this rule, but if you followed Point 3, then this should already make removing stains a lot easier. Use a damp rag for dry stains. Use a soapy damp rag for wet stains. After, dry your craft with a dry towel and let dry out on a counter. Make sure you repeat Point 3 after cleaning your leather.

6. Store unused products out of the sun, so as not to dry them out.

Hey, who knew? The sun dries things out pretty well. What happens to your skin when you’ve been at the beach out in the sun? you burn and your skin falls off after a couple of days. This is the bodies way of repairing the damage that the sun did to your skin. Leather is unfortunate enough to not have that feature (not anymore at least…) So try not to expose your leather to sun too much. If you do, make sure to moisturize that sucker. 

Now that you know how to care for your leather, it’s time for me to say thank you for your support of my business and making my dreams of providing my family with a happy life a possibility. We all are here for a reason and we should strive to find that reason. Not only to honour ourselves and those who raised us, but for our Father up above. 

Born to Craft, Built to serve