Leather Goods Care

My leather goods do not necessarily need any regular maintenance as the oils from your hands will help keep your leather wallet, belt, bag handles, watchband, etc., nice and supple. Each piece is a work of art, and will continue to look and feel better as it ages and develops its own unique patina.

  • LEATHER CONDITIONERS

    You aren't going to hurt a brand new leather wallet by adding saddle soap or another leather conditioner to it, but generally I don't think it is necessary. I've seen customers condition their brand new wallets if they are being impatient about it developing its patina. I think it is kind of silly, but it usually looks nice.

  • MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

    If I have a stiff leather in the shop that I want to soften up, I add a little mineral oil to it, and that works well for me.

    I've also called the tannery to ask them about leather conditioning, and they recommended a product line called Bee Natural Leathercare. I purchased their "Rain & Shine" conditioner for my hiking boots. It has a consistency similar to lotion, and it worked well on my boots to give a waterproof coating to my boots without darkening them too much. I've never used any conditioner on my leather wallet, bracelets, belt, or bag--all of which I have used regularly since I started making leather goods in 2010.

  • Wax-Based vs Oil-Based Conditioners

    In general, a leather conditioner that is wax-based will tend to coat the leather which can give it good protection but can also hide the natural beauty and change the feel of the leather. An oil-based conditioner will generally soften the leather, but can also break down the leather making it weaker and potentially more stretchy. An oil might be good for a stiff baseball glove, and a wax might be good for leather that is more regularly exposed to the elements like a saddle or boots

  • CLEANING

    If you need to clean your leather goods, you should use a slightly damp cloth to wipe it off and then let it dry at room temperature. Too much moisture can dry out the leather, so if you accidentally put your wallet through the wash--replenishing the oils with a conditioner will help it out--although just handling the wallet will do the same thing.

    NOTE: Never place wet leather near a heater or fire to speed up the drying process; this will damage the leather.

Breaking in your New Leather Goods

Similar to full-grain leather baseball gloves, a full-grain leather wallet has an initial break-in period that one must work through. This transformation starts the first time you put your contents in your wallet. Each pocket works best with 2 or 3 cards, but the leather pockets are designed to fit the cards snuggly and will take some time to loosen up.

If you are having trouble getting your cards in and out of your wallet and you would like to speed up the break-in process, you can add extra cards for a short period of time to stretch it out.

- First, put 2 or 3 cards in one pocket of the wallet.

- Then, one at a time, slide additional cards in the pocket behind the other cards.

- Once you have 4 or 5 cards in one pocket, massage the leather with your hands or put it in your pocket for a short period of time.

- In just 5-10 minutes, you should be able to take out the extra cards from the overstuffed pocket and see a slight difference.

Note: Be careful not to overstretch the leather as once it has stretched, it will only recoil slightly.