by Stefani Andrews

Created on: August 05, 2009

Ink stains can be especially difficult to remove from any garment, but leather can be more delicate and difficult to treat. The first step is to determine what kind of leather it is, since each will need to be treated differently. If it is suede, immediately take the garment to a professional dry cleaner that has experience with cleaning suede. Trying to treat it at home will only ruin the material. Smooth leather can be cleaned at home, just be sure to test your method on a hidden place of the garment just in case it has an unexpected reaction. Vinyl of pleather is sufficiently durable to treat immediately since you won't damage it.

You also need to determine what kind of ink the stain is, each will need to be handled a little differently. Ballpoint pen ink or a felt-tip marker can be cleaned with little trouble. If its a permanent marker or ink, then you might want to have your garment dyed to match since it most likely will not be coming out. Trying to remove permanent ink from leather will only cause a lot of damage to the leather and ruin it anyway.

The best method of home ink removal is isopropyl alcohol (aka rubbing alcohol). Fresh ink stains are very easy to remove and should come out right away. Older stains may require a repeat process. Leather is very porous so the longer the stain has had to penetrate these pores the harder it will be to remove. Start by soaking a white cotton cloth or a cotton swab in the rubbing alcohol. Do not use a colored cloth since you'll risk transferring the cloth color to your leather too. Work from the outside of the stain, dabbing only. Do not rub the stain or work from the middle, you'll just end up making the stain bigger.

When you start seeing ink be transferred to the cloth, use a clean portion to avoid transferring the ink back to the leather. Dab gently at the stain until it is removed. If you scrub harshly at it you'll make the stain bigger and could damage the leather too. Let the garment air dry after treatment, or in between treatments. Once it is dry you should apply a leather conditioner to prevent any damage to the material.

You will undoubtedly hear tales of using mayonnaise, hairspray, or dish soap to remove ink from leather. At some point, for someone on the planet, these methods worked. But the success rate is not high enough to ever recommend it. The best of these unconventional methods is probably hairspray since it has a high alcohol content. But even hairspray can backfire and discolor your leather, use it only in an emergency with a brand new ink stain. Also don't use abrasive erasers to attempt to remove the stain. You will probably succeed in removing the ink, but that will be because you've removed a layer of the leather as well. So the ink will be gone, but you'll have a hole instead. Your best bet is to stick with the rubbing alcohol and a white cloth.

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