Can leather and suede be cleaned like fabric upholstery?
No. Our work is hot-water extraction of fabric upholstery, mattresses and rugs, carried out inside your unit. That method suits woven and tufted textiles. Hide, coated and bonded faux leather, and suede or nubuck each respond to water and detergent in ways that fabric does not.
If you own one of those pieces, identify the material first, then read the care label. We assess suitability from the label and your photographs before accepting a booking. On some pieces the honest answer is that the job belongs with a leather specialist.
We do not re-dye, recolour or refinish leather, and we do not raise or re-nap suede. This page announces no new service. It exists so you can work out what you have and what to ask for.
How to tell which material you have
Furniture is often sold as leather when the covering is a coated or bonded sheet with a printed grain. The difference decides what any cleaner can attempt, so spend five minutes on it before you write to anyone.
- Look under a seat cushion or behind a back panel for a label, a care code or a fibre-content statement.
- Study the grain up close. Hide shows pores and creases that vary across a panel. A printed grain repeats at regular intervals.
- Check a worn armrest or front edge. Bonded and coated materials crack and peel in flakes, exposing a cloth backing underneath. Hide thins and lightens instead.
- Brush the surface one way, then the other. Suede and nubuck have a short nap that changes shade. Smooth leather holds one tone.
- Look at seams and piping for a textile reverse, which often indicates a coated covering.
If the checks leave you unsure, photograph the label, a full view of the piece and a close-up of the surface in daylight, then send all three. We would rather look than guess, because a guess about material is how a sofa gets damaged.
What our visit is built for
Our sofa and upholstery cleaning uses a machine that injects warm cleaning solution into a textile and draws the solution and loosened soil back out through a hand tool. The fibres hold water during the pass and release it to the vacuum. Our step-by-step process guide sets out what happens in the unit, from the pre-inspection to the final pass.
That mechanism depends on a fabric that can take controlled wetting. A leather panel does not absorb and release water the same way, and a suede nap holds water at the surface where it can dry as a tide mark. Running a fabric tool over either material risks a result nobody wants, and it cannot be undone once the surface has changed.
Fabric pieces are the straightforward case. If your sofa turns out to be woven after all, the usual visit applies.
The care label decides more than the look
Fabric upholstery often carries a single-letter cleaning code. Leather and suede pieces tend to carry a maker-specific instruction, a leather-care insert or nothing at all. Our guide to upholstery cleaning codes explains what those letters permit and why a code is a starting point rather than approval for any wet method.
La-Z-Boy's fabric and leather care guidance separates its advice by covering type and sets different instructions for leather than for cloth. Manufacturers take that position for a reason. The instruction attached to your furniture outranks any general rule you read online, including this page.
Keep the label photograph in your phone. It is the one piece of information that moves an enquiry forward quickly, and it saves a second exchange of messages before anything can be quoted.
Leather and faux leather: realistic expectations
On a sealed leather or coated surface, cleaning removes what sits on top: body oils, dust, food residue and surface marks. It does nothing about the condition of the finish below. Several common complaints are changes to the material, so cleaning leaves them where they are.
Dye transfer from denim, ink from a pen, sun fading along the window side, cracking across a seat panel and peeling on a bonded covering all sit in that group. Our guide to stains and changes cleaning cannot remove explains how to separate a soil problem from a damage problem before you spend money on either.
Anyone who promises to make a cracked or peeling panel look new is describing restoration work, which is a different trade with different materials. Ask what the proposed method actually does to the surface, and ask before the work starts rather than after.
Suede and nubuck: the most cautious case
Suede and nubuck are finished with a raised nap and left open at the surface. Water sinks in and dries unevenly, which is why a single splash can leave a ring that is visible across the room. The nap also flattens under pressure and shows a shadow where it has been rubbed.
We do not run extraction over these materials, and we do not refinish or re-nap them. If you send photographs of a suede or nubuck piece, expect us to say that it needs a specialist in that material. Sending you elsewhere costs us a booking and saves you a sofa.
Between professional attention, the safe routine is dry: vacuum with a soft brush attachment on low suction, lift crumbs from the crevices and blot a fresh spill with a dry cloth without rubbing it in. Follow the maker's instruction on any product before you apply it anywhere on the piece.
What to send, and what the fabric work costs
Send a full photograph of the piece, a close-up of the area that bothers you, a photograph of the care label and your building or area. Tell us what has already been applied to the surface, including shop-bought cleaners and wipes. We reply with a view on suitability and, where the piece is fabric, a quote.
Our price list covers fabric upholstery: an armchair is ₱2,400, a two-seater ₱3,100, a three-seater ₱3,900 and an L-shaped sofa ₱5,400 to ₱7,900 depending on size. A single mattress is ₱2,400 and a queen ₱4,700. The minimum order is ₱3,000, and travel is included in Century City, Rockwell and Salcedo. We publish no leather or suede rate, because we do not clean those materials.
Our 48-hour workmanship correction policy covers concerns about the work we carried out. It makes no promise about results on worn or damaged material. Send your photographs through the contact page and we will tell you what we can and cannot do.
Questions about leather and suede upholstery
Do you clean leather sofas?
Our service is hot-water extraction of fabric upholstery, mattresses and rugs. We assess every leather enquiry from the care label and photographs, and we often refer the piece to a leather specialist. We never re-dye, recolour or refinish leather.
My sofa is sold as leather but the arms are peeling. What is it?
Peeling in flakes that expose a cloth backing points to a bonded or coated covering rather than hide. Photograph the worn edge and the label and send both. Cleaning does not reverse peeling on that material.
Can a water mark on suede be cleaned out?
Treat that as a question for a suede specialist. A ring forms when water dries unevenly through an open nap, and the repair involves the nap itself. We decline suede work instead of experimenting on your furniture.
How do I know whether my piece is fabric after all?
Run the checks in this guide, then send the label and your photographs. Many condo sofas marketed as leather-look are woven or coated textiles, and some of those suit the normal visit. We confirm the material before anything is booked.