What's in a DIY Leather Restoration Kit?

The simple answer --- Advanced Leather Solutions includes everything necessary to get the job done.

Our kit structure is not about quantities of material as much as it’s about making sure they are the RIGHT materials for a specific leather restoration project (e.g. colored matched to specification, appropriate primer for the leather, etc.). As professional leather furniture restorers with 21 years experience in doing this work for our clients, we know what works and what is a prescription for failure. With our program the client is tapping into our professional experience, not just buying products. With our program, we are involved as much or little as the client desires. We think of the project as the client being our hands on-site. This is a key reason why we have had enormous success with this program.

The additional beauty is that the system is water based, so safe for the environment and safe to use in a home.

Now, on to the details....

Each color restoration system is custom tailored to the specifics of that client's furniture. We manufacture most of these components in our shop. We're not a reseller. We're the manufacturer. But, more importantly, we make this material for our own professional use. As leather repair and restoration specialists we could buy from any other supplier. However, we choose to make our own for quality control and effectiveness purposes.

Here are the contents of a typical kit for a configuration like a sofa, love seat, chair and ottoman:

1. Custom Base Color - matched specifically to your leather. - 128 oz. The coloring chemistry is our unique blend. We buy raw materials and blend them for best performance and spot-on color matched to the client’s color.

2. Custom Print Color - matched specifically to your leather. - 64 oz - This is an optional component if your leather has a mottled coloring affect that we are matching. When we examine your sample swatch, we analysis the color to determine if it's required.

3. Deep Penetrating Moisturizer - to improve the suppleness of your leather. 16 oz. This is a specialty product unique to our company.

4. Oil Extractor - To address any body oil issues in the leather furniture. If this step is omitted and there are body oils in the leather (very common) then it’s the place any system will fail. - 32 oz. We created this product and it is not available from any other source.

5. Primer - This sets up the leather to accept the color. Proper priming is essential to quality color adhesion. 48 oz. This also is a unique creation of ours and not available any where else.

6. Sanding pads - This is necessary to knock down chaffing that is usually evident on the high wear areas like the top of the seats. Also, it’s to be applied as necessary between each color coat to help get you to a more factory like result. These are a specialty product manufactured by 3M and not commonly available.

7. Priming Pad - This is like a heavy duty Scotch-Brite like pad made by the abrasives company, Norton, that you will use to drive the primer into the high wear areas like the top of the seats. (Not commonly available.)

8. Priming glove - This is a great tool to use in the priming step to ensure complete priming in creases, etc.

9. Foam brush color applicator - This are not the ordinary foam brush. These are the best money can buy. Most foam brushes will not hold up to prolonged use. These do.

10. Foam block applicator - This is a unique specialty product we manufacture for ease of application. It's a closed-cell foam color applicator that we contour and cut such that it fits neatly in your hand. You cannot buy this any place as we are the only company that actually makes them.

11. Tamping tool - This is another unique product we create that allows for best results when creating a subtle mottling affect on leather.

12. Tamping tub. - This carries the print color.

13. Polishing Paper - This is a unique tool that improves the end tactile result. Polishing paper is another specialty product made by 3M but is not widely available.

14. Final Dressing - This chemistry imparts a silky smooth feel to the leather and the last step in the process. 16 oz. This also is unique to us.

15. Written Instructions - 30 pages pictures, a flow diagram that shows the overall system and each step in the procedure.

16. DVD(s) - We include a general DVD with each kit. We include specific targeted DVDs as necessary. For example if you have cat scratches we have a DVD specific to correcting cat claw damage.

17. Latex gloves - While this is water based chemistry, we include latex gloves to protect your hands.

18. Practice leather. - Each kit contains a section of practice leather so you can practice any step off of your furniture if you desire.

19. Full telephone or video conferencing support (if you have that facility) at any time before, during or after the project.

The kit will include specialty items if necessary. For example if the client has an open seam, we include the sewing tools necessary and show the client how through a DVD.

A client can purchase each of these items separately from our web-site. With the Kit System concept, we package them specific to the target configuration. As a bundle, the client is generally saving between 25% and 50% versus the "a-la-carte" approach.

Finally, if a client brought their pieces to our Hayward, CA Advanced Leather Solutions studio to restore (professional restoration is 4 – 5 times more than the cost of a kit), the client could care less what materials we consumed in the process. In that context we think of the DIY System similarly. The client is paying a fixed fee to get the job done. We deliver far more than is necessary to ensure the client has enough material to complete the project. This means the kit becomes a built-in maintenance product going forward as the client has the color.

Back to the basics- What’s in a kit? This simple answer applies. The kit contains everything I would need if I walked into a client's home to do this job for them. At the end of the day, we set this system up to maximize the probability of success.

Copyright 2010, Kevin Gillan

Darwin Awards for Leather Repair

I receive lots of e-mails from people all over the country and beyond. Some of them are seeking solutions for some pretty dumb actions that have caused serious damage to their leather furniture. I’ve also been in people’s homes to inspect or repair their leather as well as people bringing projects to our shop. Some of their abuses and comments prove the concept that idiocy is not an unusual human phenomenon. Here is a list of my top ten dumbest in no specific order as any one can grab the top spot. Names have been removed to protect their reputation.

1. I used my ottoman as an ironing board. The leather is totally shrunken and distorted. Can you help me?

2. I saw an article on the internet that said to use bleach to clean leather. It didn’t work so great. The leather is clean I guess, but it’s disintegrating on me. What can I do?

3. I steam cleaned my leather sofa with the upholstery attachment to my steam cleaner. The leather turned dark and seemed to have shrunk. Please help!!

4. I was practicing my golf swing and punched a hole in the back of my beautiful leather sofa. It was a 6 iron. Is this something you can fix?

5. I had a party and moved my love seat into my back yard. I had it too close to the barbeque. The whole back of my love seat got fried. What can I do?

6. My 3 year old son got ink on my new leather cushion. After I disciplined him severely I tried to remove the ink with rubbing alcohol like it said to do on some web-site. The ink is still there but the leather color is gone. (The client brought the cushion in my shop. In this case, there was a hide scar on the leather and as is often the case, the scar tissue absorbed higher concentration of color making it darker than the surrounding leather, appearing to the client as an ink stripe. We restored the color to the alcohol afflicted area. The innocent child is still in therapy.)

7. Upon arrival to the client’s home to inspect for claimed defects in the leather of a huge new sectional, I noted a few dozen post-it notes scattered here and there on the leather. The client applied them to identify all the “defects.” Upon examination of the first problem area, I pointed out that it was not a defect, rather a natural characteristic in the leather. She seemed confused. So I explained that the cow may have rubbed against barb wire, causing the wound, and that it is fully healed hide scar and therefore not a defect. She said; “What do you mean a cow?” I waved my arm toward the sectional and replied, “Ma’am you have a whole herd of cows here.” At which point she dropped to the floor, sobbing, “What have I done? What have I done?” Turns out she’s vegan and had no idea leather came from a cow. Opppps.

8. Asked to do a repair for transit damage in a client’s home, I arrived on site with my senior technician. The client is a prominent physician and was present upon arrival. He and his designer went off to another part of his house to discuss décor. When the assignment was completed, I called him in and as he examined the repaired area, with a look of amazement exclaimed, “It’s gone. How did you do that?” Lightheartedly I said, “We use lasers.” He called out to his designer to see the repair. When she arrived, he said to her, “Look, the damage is gone. They use lasers to fix it.” I had to explain to the sheepish doctor that I was joking.

9. After carefully restoring a beautiful chair and ottoman in our Hayward shop, the client arrived in a pick-up truck to bring the pieces back to his home. He inspected the furniture and was delighted with the results. To prepare it for transit, we covered it in plastic and shrink wrap as is our standard practice. The client and I loaded it into the back of his pick up I asked if he had rope to secure it. He assured me that he did. At which point my office phone rang. I turned back into my office to take the call. The client promptly left. On his way across the San Mateo Bridge, at 70 or so miles an hour, the unsecured furniture pretended to be a kite and silently lifted out of the bed of the truck, tumbling through the air like a wounded duck. Gravity took over. It flipped and turned and smashed and crashed. Road kill. 45 minutes later he was back in our shop with a severely damage piece including a broken frame. Cost to repair the damage exceeded the value of the piece. It remains in my shop as a relic and testament to the frailty of the human brain.

10. A client owns an auto detailing shop. His customer has a BMW with leather interior. The auto detailer assigned the interior cleaning task to one of his grease monkey techs. Thinking it would be a fast and easy way to clean leather he grabbed his trusty engine degreaser and vigorously applied it to all leather components. Of course it pulled the color coat off, exposing the raw leather. (As an aside, here is a list of other chemicals that our clients were told by supposed experts would be appropriate for the cleaning of their leather --- mayonnaise, acetone, milk, honey, baby oil, detergents of all types, saddle soap. )

Bonus award: Client called to say that he’s cleaned his sofa with 409. Upon full completion of the project he realized that 409 is far too aggressive and has severely distorted the color coating. He was shocked and was preparing to sue 409’s manufacturer. His reasoning for the suit was that there was no warning on the label not to use it on leather. When I pointed out to him that there was also no warning about using it on your face, he didn’t get the connection. Asked why he didn’t stop after he completed a section and noticed the damage, he explained that he thought when it fully dried it would return to normal. Duh!!

From time to time I would enjoy entering posts about the experiences of other leather technicians who may have encountered similarly brain challenged clients. It’s all good for a laugh.

What makes our Do It Yourself Leather Restoration System Effective

This paragraph is from an e-mail received today.

"Our leather furniture is Italian Natuzzi Leather, ivory color, has worn. I tried another brand of leather dye kit about 2 years ago and it looked great for about a month. Then it started to crack and fade." -- SN, Texas

We have received several e-mail like this one over the last year or so. Meanwhile, we at Advanced Leather Solutions have had wonderful success with our Do-It-Yourself (DIY) leather restoration system. Clients have transformed automobile leather as well as home furnishings from worn, faded, stained, tired leather back to like-new condition. And, it's passed the test of time.

The reason for our success is that our DIY process follows the same steps we use professionally in our Hayward, California leather restoration studio. With 21 years experience and many thousands of leather repair and restoration projects under our belt we understand what it takes to restore leather. We know empirically what works and what doesn’t.

There is much more to the story. Our R & D efforts gave us the background into why it works. We have drilled deep to understand the fundamentals that support the science of leather restoration. The knowledge we’ve gained empowered us to develop products from the finest ingredients available, thus giving us total control over our product quality. We know they work. We as professional leather technicians use them every day. They are proven in the real world standing up to the test of time. These are the same products we make available to consumers in our DIY Leather Restoration kits.

Having the best products alone will do little without knowing how to use them. The foundation of success rests on two powerful pillars. Products and Knowledge.

We are experts at leather restoration. Knowing how to do something well is a good starting point. But that’s not enough. You also have to know how to transfer that knowledge to a novice who does not have any experience in leather restoration. With a background in adult training, we have developed the “how-to” instruction set using a well thought out written guide in combination with a DVD based visual reference. These knowledge tools empower a novice to success. While the overall procedure can be intimidating, we’ve simplified the process by breaking it down into easy-to-grasp steps.

Look at this diagram to see the steps used with DIYLeatherSolutions system. (Click on the diagram to enlarge.)




Copyright 2009, Kevin Gillan