Leather furniture - love it or leave it and "getting the wrinkles out" method

[chief38]

We love genuine leather chairs and couches and when we bought them we fully realized they would soon get some wrinkles in the leather from constant use (this is not our first leather furniture). We entertain way more than most and our couches and chairs get used heavily. My wife and I are also guilty of laying on them while watching late night movies. There are times we've fallen asleep on them and that doesn't help either. The furniture we purchased is pretty descent quality and although wrinkled - not too badly after 3 years and something we can definitely live with. I was just plain curios and had to try this method. Leather does stretch naturally which I suppose is a good thing, rather than ripping or cracking.

Fast forward to an article I read in the Doctor's office waiting room 2 weeks ago. The article said the wrinkles could easily be gotten out with a damp cloth and a heat gun. They gave fairly good directions and so when we got home I gave it a shot - to my amazement the couch and chairs were wrinkle free in under an hour. Still skeptical, the process for better or worse was (for me) a one shot deal, as continually applying heat to leather can't be a good thing! As my skepticism proved out, the wrinkles did start returning only a few days later. They are still an improvement but I have little doubt they will eventually be back. Again, we knew this going into buying leather and are OK with it - just part of what it is.

The reason for the post is to alert others with leather that this process will work (temporarily) but do not expect permanent results. IMHO, there is no reason to try this again as the results won't be any different and as stated above, continually applying heat to leather is probably not a good thing. I just wanted tho throw this out so anyone here who has encountered this will know what to expect. Leather does stretch and will wrinkle. The larger the leather area, the greater the wrinkles will be - and visa versa. If one is not OK with this, I'd say do not buy leather furniture! So that's my leather wrinkle story.

Narragansett - sorry, no laundry detergent testing - lol. No interest and I stay at least 10 feet away from the laundry room- lol!

 

[Rule3]

Do your leather pants wrinkle?

 

[rockquarry]

I don't know what to say other than we have two high quality leather chairs and an ottoman we purchased more than twenty years ago; some light scratches and scuffs, but no wrinkles anywhere. Also bought an Amish furniture leather-covered recliner at least fifteen years ago. No scratches, scuffs or wrinkles on that one and it's used every day. The leather has a fairly tight fit on all these furniture pieces.

Just a guess and nothing to do with quality (another guess), but perhaps more loosely-fitted leather is is more prone to wrinkles. Or maybe it has something to do with the leather itself, like thickness, but knowing nothing about leather I figured it was all about the same.

 

[14daMoney]

hmmm, maybe take them out and dunk them in the pool, like we used to do with our baseball gloves in a bucket of water. Or maybe not.....

 

[Onomea]

We've had leather furniture for years, first buying a UK-made Chesterfield couch and chair back in 1993. After about 20 years, it began to develop cracks and even holes. And I began to learn how to repair these, and have gotten quite good at it. It is an ongoing process though, and one that I need to keep up with. I work on repairs every year or so, I'd say.

These guys are in the UK. I used to buy their stuff from the UK, but I think now available in the US as well:

https://www.furnitureclinic.co.uk/How-To-Repair-a-Tear-In-Leather.php

The above furniture is in Japan where I lived for many years and still maintain a house.

When we moved over here some years ago, and then into a larger house in 2020, we once again bought a Chesterfield leather couch, chair and ottoman set. This was imported by a North Carolina maker from his closely supervised factory in China. I spoke with the owner at length and he explained to me that I could buy the same exact set from him — same materials and construction technique —from his NC factory, at a cost of several thousand dollars more, but it would not be better quality. (He said some folks just wanted made in USA, no matter what, so he kept the NC factory going.)

I bought his set from China, but here is something important that I learned from him. I discussed my UK set, and how after 20 years of daily use it developed cracks, etc. He explained that properly cared for, good quality leather furniture would essentially last forever. But the key, he said, is that every quarter or so, use a leather conditioner, something that is good for use on leather car interiors he suggested, to maintain the furniture. He said if I had done so with the UK set I would not have needed to repair it.

So now, with my made in China, US set, I occasionally use car interior leather conditioner on it. Not as often as I should, but a couple of times a year anyway.

 

[Rule3]

We have two sets of couches and chairs, the darker one has scratches on it from the little dog, Need to call some leather guy to comes and re-stain the scratches. I have seen some done and they are like magic.

 

[1961MJS]

Hi, I've put some Skidmores leather cream on a friend of mine's two leather chairs. On the Cowboy action shooting forum, leather section (holsters and cartridge belts) Skidmores is the magic stuff.
CASCity Leather Forum
Later

 

[Tom S.]

That's why ranchers never use blow driers on their cattle. They like the wrinkles.

 

[dmar]

We bought a leather sectional 20 years ago and it still looks great, no wrinkles. It was fairly pricey when I bought it, but good quality, made in NC. I think wrinkles may have more to do with the cushions under the leather than anything. I’d think that if the cushions stay in good shape/plump/taught, it would keep the leather from sagging and wrinkling…? Maybe I just got lucky?

 

[s&wchad]

Every time I look in the mirror, I consider the wrinkles/creases/sagging as character marks!