Leather is a very durable material. Shoes, bags, jackets, covers, belts etc are made with leather. Though leather is everyone’s favorite, it is difficult to maintain things made with leather. Smell of new leather is not pleasant at all. Again old leather items sometimes spread bad smells as leather grain can become imbued with strong smells. It is important to get rid of all the bad smells of leather so that you can enjoy using your favorite leather items.
There are number of simple and easy methods to get rid of leather smells. Let us focus on them
Getting Rid of Leather Smell
• Place your leather items out in the sun. Heat and UV rays of sunlight will destroy the bacteria that create bad smell in the leather. These bacteria evolve from sweat and other moisture. You can leave these leather items in the sun for 24 hours but to remove the smell at least keep them for 8 hours. Be careful while doing this because rain water can damage the leather permanently.
• Clean your leather properly. At first brush them with a soft nylon brush and then wipe them with a soft cloth. Try to use professionally formulated leather cleanser while wiping. Do not use soap and water; they will damage your leather severely. Proper cleansing will not only remove the smell but also will preserve the leather.
• After cleansing the leather, warp it in a newspaper at least for two days. Newspaper will absorb the smell and the extra moisture that will cause bad smell later. You can also preserve your leather items by warping in newspapers. Newspapers also absorb the smells of new leather.
• Baking soda is very much helpful in removing the smell of leather. Place your leather items in a wooden box and sprinkle baking soda in the surface. After that cover the box and leave the box for 2 days. 2 days later, bring out the items and brush of the excess baking soda and you will feel that all the smells are gone.
• Water and vinegar solution can solve the problem. Mix 5 parts water and 1 part vinegar and pour the mixture in a spray bottle. Now spray the solution in the leather items and wipe out the extra moisture with a soft cloth. This process will remove the smell and will also treat the stains.
• Treat your leather with essential oils. Take few drops of essential oils in a clean, soft cloth and wipe the leather carefully with the essential oil. After wiping with the oil; take another soft, dry and clean cloth to wipe the leather again. Wiping the leather with essential oil helps reducing the smell.
• Another useful solution is the mixture of rubbing alcohol and water. Mix 1 part rubbing alcohol and 1 part water. Then dip a clean and dry cloth in the solution and squeeze it to remove the excess moisture. Now wipe the leather with the cloth and make the leather completely dry before using. You can also treat you leather sandals and boots with enzyme based cleanser. Spray the cleanser in the shoes and leave it in the sun light to remove the smell.
• If you want to remove smells from the leather covered furnitures, open all the windows of the room in a bright sunny day. You can also place rotating fan near the furniture to air out the smell. With all these little efforts, you can get rid of leather smell.