What we recommend & what we don't recommend?
In this time of social distance and spending much more time at your home, we are bringing you few tips how to care for your SKIN MACHINE leather goods. SKIN MACHINE products are extremely durable, yet as with all leather it is a natural material and is sensitive to excessive amounts of light, humidity, and water. To keep your SKIN MACHINE leather goods in perfect condition, you should follow this tips.
1. Detect your leather type
Full Grain Leather vs Finished Split Leather
Full grain leather comes from the top layer of the hide. It includes all the grain with it – hence the
name full grain leather. This type of leather retains the inherent toughness, as well as the imperfections because there are no surface alterations or splitting & it is the highest quality leather.
On the other side, split leather is considerably weaker than grain leather and it is almost always used in low-stress applications. Split leather is a single layer of leather separated from the animal hide. Usually, the middle or lower section of the hide is used to produce split leather. When it is coated with a polymer and embossed to resemble natural leather-like look, it becomes finished split leather.
We at SKIN MACHINE use this both type of leather and there is few reasons for that. First approach is sustainability. We are completely grateful & respectful to our mother Nature and to all animals that had life circle on this planet. Taking just finest from finest and discarding the rest is not what we stand for. Each part have "use for" and we found their purpose.
Second reason is aesthetic. They can be very opposite and contrasting in texture. While full grain leather have organic & irregular texture, our split leather is smooth & homogenized.
Third reason is thickness. Although, we use booth type in different thicknesses, most of our full grain leather is 10oz / 4mm and split leather 5oz / 2mm.
2. Cleaning leather
We recommend avoiding any contact of your SKIN MACHINE leather goods with water. If you need to clean something really dirty, damp cloth will work but baby wipes are much better choice as they are soaked in a tenderly caring soft cream. Water affect your leather goods in destructive way and more often contact will fade your leather pigment. Be sure to promptly dry it with a smooth cloth if the product comes in contact with water. Blot away moisture and allow the leather to air-dry. Never place the product near a radiator or any other heat source while drying cause it will exsiccate your leather goods.
3. Applying care product
Bags, belts & jewelry generally need less treatment than shoes just because they aren’t subject to the same beating as footwear. From that point of view, your SKIN MACHINE goods don't need waxing. Still they need some love and conditioning every 6-12 months.
Best care from our experience that almost any household have is a hand cream. Tick & feat cream as Nivea Original all-purpose cream is perfect. Products that we also recommend are black or transparent leather/shoe cream or mink oil. They will moisturize your leather, enrich color and add shine.
If you have SKIN MACHINE product made out of split leather, we recommend treating just edges and maybe, depending on condition, bottom side. Nourished edges will refresh the look of your product while nourished bottom side will feed your leather and bring elasticity to it if it's dry. Face side of split leather don't need moisturizing, it want absorb product you apply on. If you do, It will leave stain on the surface. In that case we recommend you to apply small amount of alcohol on cotton pad, gently swipe just affected area & wipe immediately with soft cloth. Alcohol is also abrasive to leather pigment so be really careful with use of it. If you are in doubt with what to do with your SKIN MACHINE product & how to act, you can try it on a small surface or you can contact us and we'll be glad to help you with advice.
If you have SKIN MACHINE products made out of full grain leather, we recommend treating face side of leather and edges.
When applying leather care products use a clean, soft cloth, and another to wipe away excess after you have finished applying. If you are using black cream for nourishing your leather, you want make sure to wipe away really good any excess. You don't want your goods leave a black spot on your clothing. For finishing touch and shine you can use nylon socks and polish your leather products with it. Even a small piece of used nylon socks will last for a long time.
When not in use, store your SKIN MACHINE leather product in a cool, dry place but not far from your view. Avoid leaving the product in direct sunlight, as prolonged exposure to sunlight can cause the color to fade.