Introduction

Most leather jackets are made of lamb skin; very soft and supple leather that could also be said to be “porous”. There is no protective coating to prevent the dye and restoration ingredients from penetrating deep into the leather. This is why the restoration method below works so well for the vast majority of leather jackets! Dark colors are easier to restore. In other words, color restoration of black lamb skin jackets is the most common restoration project and they are the easiest to restore!

Discolored brown jacket

Before

After

Before you beggin:

What you need:

1 Color restoration basic kit   AND
50 to 100 ml of Costa Brava leather dye (of the needed color)

Preparation:

• Read this article from top to bottom (including notes) before starting the leather restoration process.
• Look for any dirt spots that would prevent the dye from penetrating leather.
  If present, see Conditional step A.0 .
• Look over the jacket for any signs of “leather burn”. (Conditional step A.1 )
• For a black jacket, you can simply use Costa Brava black dye.
  But if you need to make your own custom dye color, now is the time to do it.   Costa-Brava is available in many colors including all primary colors, white, black and clear.  Mixing these, you can make any color!
  Tip: Compare the color by whipping a small amount on a piece of white paper.
• Set up where you can freely move the jacket without spilling the dye.
• If needed put tape to cover the buttons and other areas.

The restoration method

Let’s get down to business! This method is basically in three parts, (A) first you restore the color, (B) you restore and correct texture and shine (C) then you protect.

1. 1st coat - Restore the color
1. Put 5ml of Lanoline in a boll. 
2. Shake your Costa-Brava dye bottle thoroughly and mix about 30ml of Costa-Brava dye with the oil.  Add about 15ml of Tenderly.  Mix well.
3. Apply 1st coat to the areas that are most discolored. 
   On black leather jackets, these color damaged spots will be visible as grayish to almost white areas.
2. Finishing coat -  restore and correct texture and shine
1.  Add 30ml of Tenderly to what is left of the 1st coating dye mixture.
   (*There should be enough left from 1st coating mix, if not also add more dye.)
   Mix well.  * Add Urad to get more shine (see conditional step B.1).
2. Apply 2nd coating on the whole jacket, not only to the most discolored areas.
   Hang to dry for a few hours.  The restoration should now be complete.  If not, and this is rare, it may be necessary to apply yet another coating.  Otherwise, finish up by applying some industrial strength protection.
3. Protective coat
1. Apply SAHARA:  Preferably outdoors or in a well ventilated area and preferably wearing a mask, spray 1 or 2 thin layers of Sahara on the jacket. Hang to dry for 8 hours without moving the jacket.  For longer lasting result, repeat this step once.

Et voila!  You saved your jacket and even helped saved the environment! Good job!

Black leather bag being restored

Additional information

*Conditional steps:

(Numbered to be included in the method steps above)
(*) = product is not included in Color Restoration kit.

1. 0. If leather is dirty, clean it using Aquila (*) leather cleaner (usually about 100ml). Spray Aquila and gently wipe.   Let dry for 15 to 20 minutes. Repeat if necessary.
      If it is a light color jacket and there are spots with no color left at all, use Costa Brava on these spots first, then clean with Aquila otherwise these spots may darken.
   1. “Burned leather”: Sun, body grease and hair spray (among other things) can “burn” leather preventing the dye from properly penetrating; in this case, adding Camoscio Pro (*) (This is the liquid version of Camoscio) to the dye mixture may work.  It’s worth a shot because if that does not work, we know of nothing else that will.
2. 0. Small repairs are better done after first coating. See our support section for further instructions for these repairs. (1 to 2ml of leather glue) (*).
   1. 30 to 50ml of Urad (To add more shine - shake Urad jar until liquefied and add about 15ml to your dye mixture. Mix well.)
   2. Normally the first coating will have handled the discoloration.  If this is not the case, repeat 1st coating step.

Notes:

• This method is not for changing the color of your leather.  It is a restoration process.
• This restoration process is not the regular maintenance of leather jackets.  Read How to care for leather jacket article.
• Don’t worry if your dye color is not an exact perfect match.  The color pigments will blend-in by penetrating the leather so it will not be noticeable if it is only slightly off.
• On 1st coat (step B), there is no problem in doing the full jacket.  For example if discoloration is dominant (or even if it’s close), simply do the full jacket.
• Quantity given here is for a short jacket and will vary wildly from one jacket to the other depending on the type of leather and how much product it absorbs.
• Every leather article is unique in terms of the raw materials, products employed and tanning methods used in its preparation; we recommend a test be made on a less visible part of the article first.

Conclusion

Congratulations!  By using the color restoration kit and the method described above, you’re on your way to give a new life to your leather.  Leather is a very noble material and has incredible longevity, provided it is well cared for!  It could be old and otherwise lost, it could be just slightly discolored, it could be worth thousands of dollars or have sentimental value...  Either way, using these simple steps and with only minimum effort, in most case, you will end up with a piece looking new again!

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