How to Clean and Condition a Leather Wallet

Twice a year, twenty minutes. This is the whole routine for a wallet, written out in the order we do it at the bench.

Step 1 — Empty it and look

Take everything out. Then actually inspect it: run a thumb along the stitching, check the corners and the fold, look inside the card slots. You are looking for a thread starting to fray or an edge going furry — both are trivial to fix now and annoying in six months.

Step 2 — Dust it

A soft dry cloth into every fold and pocket. Grit is abrasive; it sits in the seams and slowly saws at the thread. This step takes thirty seconds and does more than people expect.

Step 3 — Clean, only if it needs it

If the surface is genuinely grubby, use a proper leather cleaner on a cloth — never applied directly to the leather, and never soap or household spray. Work in small circles, wipe with a dry cloth, and let it air-dry completely before going near a conditioner. Sealing dirt under conditioner is worse than leaving it there.

Step 4 — Condition sparingly

A pea-sized amount on a fingertip, worked in with small circles. Onto the cloth or your finger, not onto the wallet.

It will look too dark immediately after. That is normal and it is not the finished result — the leather is still absorbing.

Step 5 — Leave it overnight

Open, flat, out of the sun, unused. By morning the colour has evened out and the surface is dry to the touch. Buff lightly with a clean cloth and put it back in your pocket.

What not to do

• Do not condition every month. Twice a year. More softens the fibres and the wallet loses its shape.
• Do not use shoe polish. Wrong product — it sits on the surface and clogs the grain.
• Do not condition suede or nubuck. It flattens the nap and the nap does not come back.

We use our own leather care for this. Or send the wallet in — your first three conditionings we do for you; you cover the shipping and the work is ours.