How to Care for Vegetable-Tanned Leather

Vegetable-tanned leather is the oldest kind still in common use. It is tanned with tree bark and other plant tannins instead of chrome salts, which is why it starts pale and stiff and ends up dark, soft and shaped to whoever carries it.

It also behaves differently from the chrome-tanned leather most people have owned. Here is what it actually needs.

The short version

• Wipe it with a dry cloth. That is most of the job.
• Condition it two or three times a year, not monthly.
• Keep it out of prolonged direct sun.
• If it gets soaked, dry it slowly and away from heat.
• Let it darken. That is the material working, not failing.

Everyday cleaning

Dust and surface dirt come off with a dry, soft cloth. For something more stubborn, use a barely damp cloth and let the leather dry naturally afterwards.

Do not use household cleaners, alcohol wipes, baby wipes or saddle soap on a finished veg-tan piece. They strip the natural oils and leave the leather dry and prone to cracking. Most of the damage we see on repairs comes from over-cleaning, not under-cleaning.

Conditioning

Leather is skin. It has oils and it loses them slowly. A natural leather balm replaces them.

Two or three times a year is enough for a piece in daily use. Apply a thin layer with a cloth, work it in, let it sit an hour, then buff off the excess. Less is more. Over-conditioning leaves leather soft, greasy and permanently darker than you wanted.

Test any product on a hidden area first. Veg-tan darkens when it takes oil, and the change is permanent.

Water

Vegetable-tanned leather and water have a complicated relationship. A few drops will spot and then usually blend in as the piece ages. A soaking is more serious.

If a piece gets thoroughly wet:

• Blot the surface, do not rub.
• Let it dry at room temperature, away from radiators, hairdryers, car dashboards and direct sun.
• If it is a shaped piece, put something inside to hold its form while it dries.
• Once fully dry, condition lightly. Drying pulls oils out with the water.

Heat is the actual enemy. Wet leather dried fast becomes hard, brittle and shrunken, and that is not reversible.

Sunlight and patina

Veg-tan darkens with UV exposure. Left in a sunny window, a piece will tan unevenly, and the shadow of whatever was sitting on it will be permanent.

Even, gradual darkening from ordinary use is the thing you want. That is patina, and it is why a well-carried piece looks better in year five than year one.

Scratches

Most surface scratches are not damage. Rub a light scratch briskly with a clean finger. Body heat and the natural oils in the leather will usually close it. Deeper marks stay, and eventually stop reading as marks and start reading as history.

Storage

• Store in a breathable cotton bag, never sealed plastic.
• Keep it somewhere with normal humidity. Very dry air cracks leather, very damp air grows mould.
• Stuff shaped pieces so they hold their form.
• Do not hang a heavy piece by a thin strap for months.

What we make it from

Everything in our studio is cut from full-grain vegetable-tanned leather and saddle-stitched by hand in Las Vegas. Full-grain keeps the outer surface of the hide intact, which is the strongest part and the part that develops character.

If a stitch on something we made ever fails, send it back and we will repair it. See what we make.