In the process of cleaning leather and suede garments, a slight variation in color can be expected. Unlike textile garments which are uniform in material, one leather garment can be made from many different skins. The penetration of dye varies from skin to skin. Some dyes penetrate the skins coloring them uniformly; others show resistance and only dye the surface of the skins. In other cases, the dyes used by the manufacturer are solvent soluble resulting in loss of color with the standard leather cleaning process.
A Professional Leather Cleaner will have many cleaning systems available to them and will use the safest method with each garment. Heavily soiled suedes and nubucs may require aggressive cleaning methods since stains penetrate deeply into the skins; there is no finish on the skins that acts as a barrier to the stains. After cleaning, oils and tints are used to restore color.
Finished leather garments will lose color over time and wear. A Professional Leather Cleaner will refinish “painted” leather garments as part of the normal cleaning process. The color will be matched as close as humanly possible to the original.