Leather: Sleeve gets watermarked

Problem: Grey and black water marks were still apparent on the front and outer sleeve of a pale brown leather jacket with light nubuck surface, following cleaning. In fact they look more obvious after cleaning than they did before.

Cause: The light nubuck surface on the leather is sufficient to make it porous, so any liquid staining tends to soak into the skin and become exceptionally difficult to remove. Perchloroethylene dry- cleaning fluid is a powerful

solvent, but it will not dissolve water based staining, especially where this has soaked well in.

Responsibility: Leather is a difficult material to dye so as to be colourfast so there is always a risk in applying any stain removal treatment, especially to deep staining. The probability of

producing a pale patch is often greater than the prospects for stain improvement. The responsibility for this type of staining should remain with the wearer. The cleaner has achieved the best result possible.

Rectification: Many specialist leather cleaners have a nubuck finish available and reapplication sometimes disguises the marking, if not, nothing else can be done.