The main objective of the project is to investigate the effects of cleaning products on upholstery leather finishes. Focusing on products applicable to upholstery leather cleaning, non-typical leather cleaners (and possible contaminants) or ink removers, in order to find out their behaviour, understanding how they work and if they are suitable for their purpose. Moreover an initial investigation about mechanism of soiling is proposed, in order, in the future, to avoid the soiling or develop an anti-soiling system making an improvement on the durability and maintainability in the leather types and producing an increase of the leather quality.

The work reported in this document discusses the cleaning products used to clean upholstery leather finishes. The products examined range from leather cleaners, non-typical leather cleaners such as washing up liquids, furniture polishes, leather dressings, etc. Possible contaminants e.g. hair spray and finally ink removers. As a section of the project, an initial trial examining the mechanism of soiling of upholstery leather surfaces was carried out. The techniques discussed include optical microscope, scanning electron microscope and attenuated total reflectance.