A well-made leather sofa is built to last two decades or more. To get the most out of your investment, it’s important to know how to Clean and Care For Leather Furniture. Whether it actually lasts that long has very little to do with luck and almost everything to do with what gets put on the surface — and, just as importantly, what doesn’t.

The good news: leather is not a high-maintenance material. The care routine that keeps a quality leather piece looking right is short, simple, and not very frequent. The bad news: a few of the most common cleaning instincts — grabbing the all-purpose spray, the baby wipes, the alcohol wipes — will quietly strip the finish off a real leather sofa and turn a twenty-year piece into a five-year piece.

Here’s the full version of how to clean and care for your your leather furniture, from people who’ve sold, delivered, and yes, occasionally helped repair a lot of it across the Southeast.