How to preserve and care for leather goods most effectively and durably

Leather is a material that is difficult to preserve, especially in hot, humid or dry weather. If you often use leather items, you should pay attention to how to preserve and care for them because leather items are easily moldy and damaged if you do not know how to clean them after use.

First you need to know how to distinguish between real leather and imitation leather to choose the right form of preservation.

Distinguish real leather - fake leather?

Method 1: You can tell real leather from fake leather by smell. Real leather often has a musty, slightly fishy smell of tanned leather, while fake leather has a chemical or nylon smell. You can tell the difference just by smelling it.

Through smell

Method 2: Through liquid solutions such as water. Take a little water and pour it on the surface of the two leather materials, you will immediately see the difference. Real leather always absorbs water very well, fake leather does not absorb water.

Method 3: Heat the two types of leather over a fire, real leather will be scorched and smell like leather, fake leather will smell like burnt fabric or nylon.

Method 4: You may notice that real leather pieces are often bitten or swarmed by insects such as ants and cockroaches. On the contrary, ants and cockroaches do not come near fake leather pieces because they contain chemicals or nylon.

Method 5: Place your hand on the surface of the product and feel it. If it is faux leather, you will feel the smoothness of the plastic layer created by synthetic materials. This will be more obvious when you touch this surface in winter, you will feel cold. As for real leather, you will feel the softness and smoothness whenever you touch it. Moreover, real leather never feels cool even in winter.

These are the basic methods to distinguish real leather and fake leather. Therefore, if you are using products made from real leather, you should pay attention to the following preservation methods.

Wipe with paper towel

2. Use a damp cloth or fresh milk to care for your skin.

Real leather is prone to dust after a long time, so use a damp cloth to gently wipe the leather surface or better yet, fresh milk to keep the leather soft and avoid cracking when the weather is too cold or dry.

3. Long-term preservation of leather goods:

Use half a potato to rub the surface of the leather many times, then use a damp cloth to gently rub it again and then polish it to make it look like new.

4. Preserving damp and moldy leather goods

There are specialized bleaches on the market today for leather. But you should test a spot first to see if your leather is suitable for that bleach before wiping the entire area.

Use bleach

You can use a clean cloth or a soft brush soaked in turpentine to wipe it off. However, if the mold is stubborn and stuck to the leather and cannot be cleaned off, use sandpaper, something very fine, to rub the mold off. After sanding, you must color the sanded leather to match the surrounding leather. Finally, use shoe polish to polish it again.

Scrub the skin with a brush

The best way is to buy desiccant bags to put inside genuine leather goods to prevent mold.