How to clean suede the basic steps

I've thought about how to clean suede for a long time, until a friend of mine showed me how easy it is to maintain and even clean this wonderful material. But before that, a short intro to what suede is.

Suede is a type of leather with a napped finish, made up of the under side of lamb, goat or deer skin. This type of soft, velvety leather lacks the tough outer skin layer that makes standard leather more durable. The French are to be blamed for its wonderful sounding name, the term comes from a French term that translated means "gloves of Sweden".

The porous texture and the nap (velvety surface) are the main culprits in making suede soft, supple and also prone to stains and water damage.

OK, before we jump into cleaning our Suede, we need to know a few basic steps that will increase our suede's life span and prevent discoloration. Suede is really simple to care for, even though, it requires more maintenance work than standard full-grain leather. There are four "maintenance" tasks that will keep your suede like "fluffy" new:

1. We want our suede to be comfy and supple, this can be achieved by applying neatsfoot oil on the inside surface of our suede. There is no need for exaggeration, a thin layer is all that's needed. You can apply it with the help of a cotton ball, cloth can also be used, be sure it's soft.
2. If you own suede, you absolutely need a suede brush. Once a week, you need to brush the entire outer surface of the suede, we need the nap to "fluff up" and remove any dust that settled over time. Dust is one of the worst enemies of suede, it causes discoloration, that's why we need to get rid of it weekly. When brushing use a circular motion.
3. You will need a leather pray that protects suede, the internet is a very good place to search for this kind of things. The spray needs to be used twice every year. It is one of your better hidden weapons against permanent stains and even water damage.
4. Lastly, you will need to part with your suede. But not forever ! Every two years, depending on how often you use it, you should have it professionally cleaned. This is the best step against permanently discoloring your suede.
   

Because of it's special nature, suede requires some cleaning supplies, you might already have some of these in your house, the others, can be easily found on the internet or at any specialty shoe store.

In order to clean suede you will need:

1. Suede brush
2. Tissue paper
   
3. Soft terrycloth towel
4. Suede eraser
5. Suede degreaser 
6. Suede protectant spray
7. Pencil eraser
8. Soft cotton cloth
9. Neatsfoot oi
10. White vinegar
11. Fine sandpaper

How to clean suede indeed, well there are 3 big steps in the process of cleaning suede:

1. You must prepare your suede
2. The removing of dirt and stains
3. Restoring the nap

• Step 1: Preparing your suede for cleaning

You might be in a rush to get all those mud stains or water off your suede, but rushing things will most probably cause further damage, in the worst case, it might even ruin it. Don't skip this step. If your suede has water on it, get the soft terrycloth out of the locker and put it on both sides of the suede (inner and outer side) and press as hard as you can in order to absorb the water.

If you have suede shoes, they will at one point or another have mud on them, you can outrun mud, ever. So what you do is simply allow the mud to dry completely, stuff them with something so that they don't lose their shape, this is a good general advice that can be used even if they are not dirty. Then when the mud is dry you brush away the excess dirt with the help of the suede brush. Be careful to not scrub your suede, just gently brush all the dirt off.

• Step 2: The removal of dirt and stains

If the first step didn't remove all the dirt then you will need your suede eraser. This little thing works magic on dirt, it works like a magnet adhering to the particles and making them easier to remove. Be careful to rub the eraser just in one direction, don't scrub because it will make the stains go deeper and harder to clean. After you are done with the eraser you need to use the suede brush again, and gently sweep your shoes, jacket, hat, purse, etc with it.

• Step 3: Restoring the nap

Bah, I've cleaned it, but, but the area is different from the rest of the clothing. There is a simple reason for that, the nap suffered some damage or has been flattened while you cleaned the suede. However the velvety texture can be easily won back. Make sure your suede is dry, very dry, completely dry. We will need, the suede brush, again, the universal suede tool :). You need to brush the suede in circular motion, gently, this procedure will raise the nap. If this didn't help restore the nap, then that portion was damaged during cleaning. At this moment, you will need the fine sandpaper. Be very gentle and rub the suede in a circular motion, be careful not to rub too much of the material. Now you are done :)

There is one more step. There are stains that you won't be able to remove, stains that can be removed only by professionals, stains made by red wine or ink, or other hard to deal with liquids.