Leather Care
At Morning Cup Leather, we're committed to making leather goods to outlast their owners, which is why we proudly offer a lifetime guarantee with all of our products. That said, leather is still a material just like any other and it doesn't hurt to take good care of it.
The advice we provide here is intended for our own products but should apply to anything made from 100% full-grain leather.
Waxes & Oils
Leather is able to withstand a lot, and this is primarily due to the natural waxes and oils present in the hide. If a piece of leather feels "dry" or begins cracking, it's because it has lost some of these moisturizing compounds. Much of leather care is about maintaining a healthy level of these.
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When it comes to most small leather goods, like wallets, the oils from your hands are more than sufficient to keep them adequately moisturized, although a little extra never hurts. The same is usually not true for things like shoes, bags, and furniture, however, and these can usually use a bit more help.
Leather Balm
If many of leather's amazing properties come from the waxes and oils that have been stuffed into it, it stands to reason that you could improve older leather by adding more. As it turns out, that's 100% true!
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Leather balms and conditioners will almost always be some mixture of stable oils that moisturize the material, almost exactly the same way that lotions and lip balms moisturize our skin. We offer one we make ourselves by hand and we think it's pretty great but it's by no means the only option. We recommend that you check the ingredients first for any leather products you find and make sure they're all naturally derived. Those are the things that went into the leather in the first place, and they'll be the things that keep it around long after you're gone.
Polishing
You can probably conjure up an image of a classic shoe-shine stand in your head even if you've never used one. All the brushes and cloths that they have actually serve a purpose for leather shoes and they can help take a boot from heavily worn to looking nearly brand new with enough patience. You don't NEED to polish leather but smoothing out a scratch with a horse hair brush or even just giving it a rub with a 100% cotton cloth can do wonders at making the material look as good as it did on day one.
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We pack all Morning Cup Leather wallets with a small cotton bag which was selected for this exact purpose. A little polish with the bag can quickly refresh a wallet or pair of boots, especially when combined with a balm or conditioner. In a pinch, an old cotton t-shirt or (even better) a scrap of denim, will do the job just fine.
