This guide will help you determine what type of leather you have.  It is important to know what type of leather your furniture, auto or other leather goods are made of, before you start to try to clean them.  In addition, this information can be useful if you are shopping for leather and are wondering how easy it will stain and how easy it will be to clean once you get it home.

I have been working in leather/upholstery cleaning and repair since 1997.  One thing that I noticed as I went to people's homes to service their furniture is that the majority of people don't really know what kind of leather they have.  This lack of information makes it difficult for people to know what products to use or how to clean their leather.  This guide was designed for the people with leather furniture who would like to clean it and wondering where to start.   Let's determine what type of leather you have!

What types of leather are there?

There are 2 major categories of leather which will define the method of cleaning you will use, they are Finished and Unfinished.  I try to compare this to wood so people can better understand: finished leather is like painted wood with a polyurethane or similar coating on it, unfinished leather is like stained wood with no protective topcoat on it.  Halfway in between is a semi-finished leather; it is like stained wood with a light protective coating on it which falls under the major category of unfinished.

There is only 1 type of finished leather, however there are many different types of unfinished leather such as aniline, semi-aniline, semi-finished, nubuck, pull-up, wax pull-up and suede.  The different types of unfinished leather do not change the way you clean it, only how easy or difficult it may be to clean or remove stains.

How do I tell what kind of leather I have?

To start if you are looking at the leather in your car or truck you probably have finished leather, unless you have a Ford King Ranch.  There are several ways to determine what type of leather you have, so lets take a look at some of them.  I have put the answers right after the questions so you can immediately determine your type of leather.  Note:  If you answer yes to ANY question you have unfinished even if you answered no to another question.

    1.   Look at the leather, do you see any scars or markings that are in the leather?

• YES, you have unfinished leather. 
• NO, your leather might be finished or corrected leather, keep looking at the questions.

    2.    Run your fingernail on the leather, does it leave a mark?

• YES, you have unfinished leather.
• NO, you might have finished leather, keep looking at the questions as some semi-finished leathers do not make very easily noticable marks.

    3.    Wet your finger and rub it on a hidden piece of leather, does it leave a wet spot?

• YES, you have unfinished leather.
• NO, you have finished leather if you have answered no to all of the above questions.  The water cannot penetrate into the hide because there is a topcoat preventing it from doing so.

So now I know what kind of leather I have, what does that mean?

FINISHED: Sometimes also called corrected leather because scars often are removed and dyed over, and a grain is pressed in at the factory, unless you have "top grain leather" which is the top of the hide.  You have purchased the most easy to clean leather out there, it resists stains as it cannot absorb liquids, does not fade and will last a very long time with the proper maintenance.  If however, you do not maintain your furniture the top coat can crack and the leather can dry out.  Often this leather will have a deep grain which serves as a dirt, grime and grease collector.  Over time this dirt, grime and grease will break down the topcoat of your furniture.  Because of this it is imperative that you clean your leather with a brush and high quality non-chemical based leather cleaner.  Chemical based cleaners will break down the topcoat over time and leave your furniture looking old and worn.  After cleaning your furniture should be coated with a high quality conditioner to help restore and maintain the furniture's moisture.  Remember, leather is a skin that needs to be taken care of.

UNFINISHED: This leather often looks and feels more soft and supple than finished leather; however, your leather will stain much more easily than finished leather because there is little or no topcoat to protect it.  Which kind of unfinished leather you have will determine how easily it stains; for example, nubuck stains much more easily than wax pull-up.  There is no topcoat that will crack, however it will likely fade, wear and get stained.  Stains can be very difficult if not impossible to remove depending on what the stain is and how long it has been there.  If you already purchased this type of leather, do not be alarmed as you can keep this leather looking good with some regular maintenance and a good conditioner/protectant.  If you have this type of leather for a while I would recommend cleaning asap, because the longer the stains sit the harder they will be to remove.  Because of this leather's more delicate nature, it is imperative that you use a high quality non-chemical based cleaner which could stain or damage your leather.  You cannot clean this leather with a brush as it will affect the surface of the hide, it needs to be cleaned using a sponge instead.  The sponge will help you clean the leather while allowing it to maintain it's soft and supple finish.

Now what?

Purchase one of our high quality leather cleaning kits, let me know if you have unfinished leather I will include the sponge for you and look for my more detailed cleaning guides coming soon for each kind of leather.  Please feel free to ask me a question if you still have unanswered questions.