Cleaning a cream leather suite

Primrose

We have a "Stressless" cream leather suite which came with some expensive cleaning fluid and "conditioning" cream which is now running out.

The suite is now a little grubby and needs cleaning . Do I really need to use this or will cleaning with damp cloth and bottled hand washing soap be just as effective? And what could I substitute for the "conditioning" cream? I'm not sure whether these cleaning packs which are sold with leather furniture are the only suitable materials or whether they're an expensive gimmick.

DomRavioli

They aren't an expensive gimmick, although its likely you can get them cheaper than the ones that came with the specific sofa. You cannot use "hand washing soap" on leather. Leather is skin. It will dry it out, crack it and ruin it.

Do you know what kind of leather it is (fully analine, semi analine or split)? This will guide your decision as to the specific product you need - if you're unsure, maybe email the company?

But please, DO NOT use human skin products on leather, or detergents not made for it because you will ruin it completely, and usually quite quickly.

There are wipes that are made for leather (which have both cleaning agents and conditioners in them) which I used to get from home bargains or poundland - they were not as good as the more expensive cleaners but they did the job well and didn't ruin the furniture. Perhaps if you're looking to save money, this may be something in the interim until you can find out what leather it is, and then purchase a cheaper version of the branded cleaner (there are generic leather cleaner & conditioner kits).

luxor4t

I have cleaned my cream leather sofa and chairs with a little mild facial soap on a damp flannel for years. It is still in good condition after 10 years and I can't see any damage to the leather.

Having said that, now that it is just the two of us I only wipe it down every couple of months as we don't have heavy traffic on any of the furniture now that the family have flown the nest.

GwylimT

We wash ours weekly with warm water, fairy liquid and a microfibre cloth, its semi-analine. Its about fifteen years old.

HOWMUCH

When I had a leather suite I used saddle soap.

pigpen

My mother has 5 dogs and had a cream leather sofa.. it had a LOT of washing.

She used a bucket of water with washing up liquid, stardrops and zoflora.. and a wormy glove she would then add bleach and wash the floor with the same water.

She sold it on when she got sick of washing it after several years and bought a brown one she didnt have to clean so often.. though I do regularly point out it is just as dirty as the cream one the dirt is just less visible!

My stepdad used to work in a tan yard so would have told her if something was totally unsuitable.

krlyr

I bought a leather cleaner from a cheapy shop - about £1-1.50 and it's lasted around 3 years so far, so a good buy! It smells slightly coconuty and doesn't seem to have dried out or discoloured the leather yet.

suki1964

I use auto glyn We've loads of it in the garage. Even use it on my boots

sharronima

Used to have white leather chairs..here's a site I've bookmarked as I was getting so many ink and grease stains on those from my kids howtocleanstains.com/clean-leather-stains

Generally I found leather easy to maintain, but some spots are really hard to get out