Nubuck Leather Care


Nubuck is an expensive and high quality leather with a soft, velvety texture. It is popularly used for making furniture, shoes and various other leather goods. The uniqueness of this type of leather lies with the fact that it is made out of the outer part of the animal skin. It has lots of similarities with suede. However, it has higher durability than suede. The problem with nubuck leather is that it has an unfinished surface which makes it susceptible to stains. In order to retain its natural quality for a long period of time, proper nubuck leather care is a must.

How to Care for Nubuck Leather

The important aspects of nubuck leather care are cleaning and protection of the delicate material. Both these steps are explained below:

Cleaning
The most important thing that you must remember is that you should not use water for cleaning this type of leather as it can cause permanent damage to the leather. Rather, you should use a few simple tools meant for leather cleaning. They are: nubuck eraser, nubuck brush, nubuck cleaner, nubuck degreasing product and cloth.

To begin with, you have to get rid of loose dirt and dust from nubuck leather surface with the help of the brush. Rub the brush gently over the leather surface in small circles. To remove the dry stains, you can use a nubuck stain eraser. Rub it over the stains softly as long as the stain does not disappear completely. If the leather is badly soiled, then you have to take the help of a foam or liquid cleaner. Read the instructions provided by the manufacturer about using the product and follow the same. After brushing, spray the cleaner on the leather and rub it thoroughly with the nubuck cloth.

If there are oil stains on the leather, then a brush or cleaner is not going to be of much help. You have to make some special efforts. Firstly, try to extract out the greasy substance as much as possible with the help of dry paper towel. Then apply a degreaser product on it. Stain removal should be followed by brushing of the leather's surface. This is done to restore its natural texture. Once in a while, steam cleaning of nubuck is good in order to retain its attractive look.

Protection
The numerous short fibrous hair that are present on the surface of the nubuck leather tend to become flat after every use. Therefore, an important part of nubuck leather shoe care is thorough brushing of the shoes after using them. This helps to protect the velvety texture of the leather. Leather furniture or other such goods should also be brushed twice a month. This will also clean up the dust particles accumulated in between the hair and keep the surface of the leather clean.

If the leather get stained, do not allow it to settle on the leather and clean it as soon as possible. You must protect the leather's surface from water and stains with the help of a sealant. It is available in the form of a spray. You have to apply an even layer of the sealant on the nubuck surface and let it dry up properly. Then apply another coat of sealant. It should be applied every month. You must apply it after cleaning nubuck leather.

Do not use any such products that are meant for suede on nubuck leather as they have a damaging effect on nubuck. You can purchase a nubuck leather care kit from a leather goods store. It contains all those products that are specially designed for nubuck leather.

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