A friend of mine recently asked me this question: Can you repair peeling faux leather?
Recently, she started using a new cleaning product on her upholstery, the worst thing was that she didn’t test it on a hidden area before using it, this caused her upholstery to start peeling and even cracking everywhere, looking really horrible!

She asked many people on the Internet and didn’t find a good solution, I was very honest with her and told her that it is simply too difficult to repair, but she can save the remaining of her upholstery by applying a good faux leather conditioner which is going to restore the original essential chemical compounds to her faux leather objects and prevent them from peeling furthermore.
Because most of the peeling is going to happen when the faux leather fabric has lost its essential chemicals that preserve and protect it from heat and other damaging elements.
As far as repairing is concerned, it is simply very difficult for a novice to do it, look, I won’t give you a step by step guide to repair peeling faux leather fabric because it won’t work.
To clean faux leather perfectly, use saddle soap! Click here to try it!
Usually, in my shop, I look for a close fabric match and then I would remove the whole weak fabric and replace it with a new stronger and more durable one, this is not only very expensive, most of these peeling sofas and faux leather items were bought cheaply and when I tell their owner how much it would cost to replace the whole fabric with a new one, they run away and never come back, but it is also very time consuming, and in the end, it’s just like buying a new one, since faux leather item prices are really dropping every year.
This is the truth, the only thing you can do isn’t to look for another article and think that you may find a magic solution, a conditioner to apply today and tomorrow your peeling faux leather will be cured and just like when you bought it three years ago, I’m completely honest with you, you will lose a lot of money, there are many glues on the market that promise to make the fabric smooth and the peels and cracks invisible, I have tried most brands and they leave a horrible result.
You need to look seriously at your peeling item, is it worth the money you will spend on it? If yes, then by all means do it, but I doubt so.
So, I advised her to do is to seek the help of a professional and to replace the damaged areas completely.
I know that this is going to sound horrible and unpractical, but in the case of peeling faux leather, it is the only way possible.
That is why I highly recommend that you only clean your upholstery with good faux leather conditioners and good upholstery cleaning products, and to always test new products on hidden areas of your upholstery, for example the back or the bottom, before using it.
Angela clark says
Where can I have my flax jacket repaired?
Jean-Marc Chateigner says
Try any leather repair shop, if they’re working on leather, then they can repair it.
Andrea says
Thank you so much for your website! I recently decide that I do not want to buy leather handbags anymore; the treatment of the animals, the cost to process and produce these leathers, and the cost to buy a leather handbag I cannot justify it anymore. Faux leather handbags are made to very good standard these days! Now I know that I can also take care of my faux leather bags and clothes and make them last longer! Thank you very much!!!