Luxury upholstery specialist, Bradington-Young, a Hooker Furnishings Company, has developed an educational guide to provide retailers and consumers with information on cleaning and disinfecting leather furniture during the pandemic. The new guide outlines how to protect leather goods from being damaged by alcohol-based disinfectants like hand sanitizer gel and wipes used to protect against COVID-19.
According to a CDC report, the COVID-19 virus cannot live long in porous surfaces such as leather and wood as the small holes trap the microbes and keep them from transferring, unlike surfaces such as door handles or glass doors. Bradington-Young suggests avoiding any liquid or spray containing alcohol as this will compromise the bonding agent on the topcoat of the leather. Once the topcoat is compromised, the leather will no longer be protected, and color transfer begins.
“After receiving an influx of questions and concerns from consumers about how to clean and disinfect our products, our customer care team wanted to be as proactive as possible when it came to protecting the quality and longevity of our leather goods,” said Cheryl Sigmon, vice president of merchandising at Bradington-Young. “With the increased use of disinfecting agents in homes across the country, we were concerned that consumers would assume that it’s safe to use them on their leather furniture. So, we created this easy to use guide to reassure them that it is still safe to purchase leather furniture and to provide them with the resources they need to properly clean these products without damage.
“And, as more and more retailers return to ‘normal’ operations, we anticipate that they will also benefit from these leather care tips to help keep their floor samples safe and clean for their customers,” she added.
The new guidelines add to the company’s extensive leather education resources, which include a general leather care guide – available on its website, deck labels and hang tags – a Leather Lifestyle Parings Guide that helps consumers choose the type of leather that is best suited for their lifestyle and a leather care cleaning kit. The cleaning kit, which includes a bottle of leather cleaner and protection cream, is available to Bradington-Young customers free of charge, upon product registration. Additional leather cleaning kits are available for purchase through the company’s customer care department.
Available on the company’s website, the leather cleaning guide outlines best practices for caring for each of the different types of leather, including Aniline, Nubuck, Finished and Aniline-Plus leathers.