Protecting the Leather We Have: Jackets

Focusing more on sustainability these days? You’re not alone! Leather can last a lifetime if you take care of it. And like a lot of people, you probably have leather goods that you'd like to make last longer. We're here to help you properly maintain and protect the leather you have.

Read on for some cobbler-approved tips to revive your favorite leather items, specifically your leather jacket. We’ll also have blog posts on protecting your baseball or softball gloves and leather bags.

Here’s How to Condition and Waterproof Your Leather Jacket

What you’ll need:

1. Heavy duty hanger (preferably wood)
2. Table or floor surface
3. Old sheet or towels (to protect the surface of table or floor)
4. Soft cotton cloth
5. Mild dish soap
6. MooBuzz® All-Natural Leather Protection, Original Formula
7. MooBuzz® Shine Cloth
8. MooBuzz® Shine Brush (optional)


Now, let’s get started

1. First, make some space to lay your jacket flat. A large table or even your floor will work. Lay down a folded sheet or some old towels to protect your table or floor.
   
   We’re assuming your jacket is mildly dusty and dirty. (If it’s really filthy or mud-caked, take that baby to a dry cleaner that specializes in cleaning leather.)
2. Begin by adding a couple of drops of mild dishwashing soap to a sink or half a bucket full of lukewarm water. You want a really weak solution for this job, so the fewer suds the better.
3. Next, lay your jacket flat on a table or the floor with the front side facing up. Thoroughly wet your cotton cleaning cloth and ring it out pretty well. You want the cloth fairly wet, not damp, but not dripping.
4. Lightly wash all surfaces of the front of your jacket, including the neck and collar area, the sleeves, and around the bottom of the cuffs and waistband or hem. Don’t be afraid if the water makes parts of your jacket look dark. As long as your cloth isn't dripping wet, you’re fine.
   
   If your cloth dries out significantly so that the cloth is dragging or rolling up on the leather, rinse it, wet it again, ring it out, and continue washing.
5. Turn your jacket over and wash the back side, including the sleeves, cuffs, and waistband, etc. Rinse and re-wet your cloth as needed to allow the cloth to easily glide over the leather without leaving pools of water on the leather.

6. When you’re done with both sides of the jacket, hang it on the wooden hanger to dry. Put a dry towel or washcloth in each shoulder area of the jacket to prevent the hanger from leaving any marks in the damp leather.

7. Allow the jacket to dry with plenty of air circulating, but do not place it in the sun or near a heat source. Heat isn’t good for leather, especially wet or damp leather. The leather should be dry in an hour or two. If not, that’s ok! Just let it hang until it looks and feels mostly dry.

8. Once your jacket is dry, lay it on the floor again (with your sheet or towel in place for protection) front side facing up. Rub a good amount of MooBuzz® All-Natural Leather Protection into a small clean, dry, soft cloth – really saturate it. A good way to do this is to swipe your cloth into the tin of MooBuzz® All-Natural Leather Protection and roll it the cloth around between your hands.
   
   Repeat this process several times. When your cloth is fairly well saturated (basically you want to create an oily rag), proceed to rub the cloth lightly over the surface of the leather using a circular motion.

9. Less is more here: don’t have gobs of MooBuzz® All-Natural Leather Protection on your cloth and don't rub too hard. If your cloth begins to drag or roll up on the leather, add more MooBuzz® All-Natural Leather Protection to the cloth. The drier parts of the leather will absorb more of the oil and wax and may look darker at first. This is a good thing and will even out over time.

10. Let the MooBuzz® All-Natural Leather Protection absorb into the front of your jacket for a few minutes before you turn it over. Then proceed with the back side. When you've applied a light coat of MooBuzz® All-Natural Leather Protection to the entire jacket, hang it up again for about 20 minutes. Then lay flat again and lightly buff all over with the MooBuzz® Shine Cloth or another soft, clean cloth. Buff until the leather feels nice and smooth.

Don’t worry if your leather feels a bit oily or tacky! Let it hang for a bit longer and buff again. For a really nice luster, you can buff it with a horsehair shine brush.

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