How To Clean Faux Leather (2024)

Inside: Need to clean a dirty couch or chair? Check out these easy tips on how to clean faux leather. You can keep your fake leather looking great!

A few years ago we bought some faux leather chairs from Costco. I was a little nervous about buying them. All my other furniture was cloth or wood, and I had never had leather or faux leather. I had no idea how to care for them or if they would last since they were fake leather.

Despite my concerns, they have held up amazingly and are so easy to care for. I have found that it doesn't take a lot of work to clean faux leather and it's very durable.

If you are dealing with dirty fake leather check out these easy tips on how to clean faux leather. It works great on everything from fake leather couches to purses. You can keep your leather looking great without a bunch of work.

How To Clean Faux Leather

Whether you call it pleather, faux leather, fake leather, or synthetic it's easy enough to clean.

You will need a few items you probably already have at home.

Ingredients To Clean Synthetic Leather

• Dawn Dish Soap
• Water
• Microfiber Cloth
• Leather Conditioner if desired (I like to use this after cleaning my faux leather car seats)

Getting Started

To start, I always recommend you test this cleaning tip on a small area of the leather that isn't usually seen. If you have older faux leather that is starting to deteriorate you may not want to try this. Once you have tested it then you can start cleaning the faux leather.

To clean you will need some warm (not hot) soapy water. I like to use this kind of Dawn dish soap.

Add about 1/2 teaspoon of dish soap for every 5 cups of water. I just filled up a bowl with the warm soapy water.

Cleaning The Faux Leather

Then, use a clean microfiber cloth (this is my favorite brand of microfiber cloths) dipped in the soapy water to wipe down the leather. Make sure you wring out the cloth first so you don't get the leather too wet.

Gently wipe over all of the leather to get it cleaned off. The soap will help remove any dirt or debris on the leather. My chairs are dark and so I often don't realize how dirty they become until I clean them off. My dogs often come in from outside and climb right up in the chairs so they tend to bring in the dirt with them.

Once you have cleaned all of the leather off with the warm soapy water then pour out the water and refill the bowl or bucket with warm water.

Gently wipe the leather down again using a microfiber cloth and warm water. Make sure you get all the areas so you remove any of the soap residues that may be left on the leather. Any soap residue left behind on the leather can damage it.

After wiping it down you will want to let the faux leather dry for a little while. I recommend letting it dry for about an hour or two before you start to use it again.

Fixing Any Scratches In The Leather

If you have any noticeable scratches in the leather you can use this trick to hide them. Apply a small amount of olive oil onto a microfiber cloth. Then, gently rub the oil into the scratches in the leather.

Once you have applied the oil then use a clean microfiber cloth to wipe away any oil residue. The scratches on the leather will darken and seem to disappear. It can make your fake leather look like new again. I love using this trick for the small scratches from my dogs' nails.

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Follow Up With A Leather Conditioner

If you want after cleaning the faux leather you can follow up with an easy-to-use leather conditioner. I like to do this on my synthetic leather car seats because they see so much use.

You can pick up a bottle fairly inexpensively on Amazon.

With these simple tips on how to clean faux leather, you can keep your leather looking great for years. Want some other easy cleaning tips? Check out how to make a DIY upholstery cleaner that will clean the worst stains from your fabric furniture.