If your favorite suede sofa or any suede furniture is stained and you are looking for ways on how to clean suede furniture yourself, don’t look any further. We have 5 amazing steps to make sure you successfully get rid of all the dirt from your suede furniture and make it a clean suede that looks brand new.
As Doğtaş, a modern furniture store that brings style and comfort in harmony, we believe that suede furniture pieces are timeless, elegant, and essential parts of house decoration. That is why they never fall back on the furniture trends and are an inseparable part of living room decoration as well. With their fuzzy look and soft-touch, they are usually a go-to when shopping for furniture.
However, most people still assume that either genuine leather suede or microsuede is hard to clean and maintain. So they stay away from buying suede furniture because of this drawback.
Yet the truth is different. Suede furniture is not hard to clean and maintain when you understand the suede types and requirements to maintain their conditions. Stick with us till the end of this article to learn beneficial ways on how to get stains out of suede for good.
Before You Start Cleaning Suede
Before diving into how to clean suede furniture, do you know whether your furniture is made from genuine leather suede or microfiber suede? It is important to take the fabric type into consideration to find the best way to clean suede furniture without staining or damaging.
Some suede sofas or furniture are easier to clean thanks to their easy to clean fabric like the wide range of sofa options in Doğtaş.
If you are not sure whether your furniture is genuine suede or microsuede, we recommend you to consult the furniture store. You shouldn’t clean your suede furniture before learning the suede type or you may lose the furniture warranty if you have any.
- Genuine or natural suede is leather made from animal hides and can be porous dyed or undyed.
- Microsuede, on the other hand, is a type of microfiber that is manmade polyester fabric. It perfectly mimics the suede look and delicate feel. Since microfiber is a firmly-woven fabric, the furniture covered with it is more resistant to stains, dirt, and dust.
Suede Furniture Cleaning Steps
Assuming that now you know your furniture’s suede type let’s see how to clean suede furniture yourself explained step by step below.
Step #1 Determine the Suede Type
Before you start cleaning your suede furniture, you should check its instructions to know how to clean suede furniture without harming it. This is why determining the suede type of your furniture is the first and the most crucial step about how to clean suede furniture at home.
To learn the suede type of your furniture look for the attached care tag. It will be your guide on how to clean your suede couch or furniture.
- Code W: If you see W only in the instructions, it means you can clean your suede furniture with a water-based cleaner.
- Code S: If you see an S, that means you can clean your suede sofa or furniture only with dry cleaning or a solvent-based cleaner. Be careful not to use water-based cleansers on this type of suede. Moreover, make sure the room you will clean the suede is well-ventilated and far from flame sources like fireplaces or candles as you will be using chemicals for suede cleaning.
- Code W/S: If there is a W/S, you can clean your suede with either water-based or solvent-based products.
- Code X: “X” means that you should avoid any type of cleaning agent because if you do they may distort stain shrink the suede fabric. This type of suede requires professional cleaning or you can clean only with vacuuming.
Step #2 Gather the Cleaning Materials and Tools
The next step on how to clean suede furniture at home is gathering some tools or equipment and cleaning materials. The list below may seem intimidating to you, but you do not have to use all of them. We will provide you with different suede furniture cleaning ways. You are free to make it work with what you have.
Tools You Need
- Scrub brush
- Microfiber cloth
- Bucket
- Whisk
- Suede brush
- Vacuum
Cleaning Material
- Baby powder or cornstarch
- Dishwashing liquid
- Commercial glue remover
- Rubbing alcohol (isopropyl)
Step #3 Vacuum the Dust and Dirt
To maintain your suede furniture’s good condition you should regularly (i.e. weekly) vacuum the dirt, dust, soil, crumbs, or any particles that may be accumulated on the suede. If you are looking for the best way on how to clean suede couch, don’t skip vacuuming in between upholsters with a crevice tool to reach every surface.
Step #4 Cleaning a Natural Suede Couch
This step on how to clean suede furniture includes individual ways on how to clean a natural suede couch or furniture. If you have microfiber suede furniture, you may skip this step.
Once you finish vacuuming the dust off the suede surface, it is time to treat stains. Asking yourself how to clean stains off suede furniture? It is best to treat stains and spills immediately. You can use cornstarch which is a natural oil absorber.
Additionally, you can use a commercial glue to remove sticky residue. Brush the surface with a suede brush after removing the stains. Note that these simple tricks are for superficial cleaning, for a thorough cleaning you should call a professional upholstery cleaner.
Step #5 Cleaning Microfiber Suede
As we mentioned earlier microfiber suede furniture has different cleaning instructions. Some may be cleaned with water-based cleaners while others can only be cleaned with solvent-based products.
How to clean microfiber suede couch or furniture with S on its care tag? You can clean this type of microfiber suede furniture with rubbing alcohol.
On the other hand, a suede couch with W or W/s on its care tag can be cleaned with soap and water.
How to clean microfiber suede with soap and water?
- Add ¼ cup of dishwashing liquid into 4 cups of warm water.
- With the help of a whisk, create suds.
- Get another bucket filled with clean water.
- Then, dip the scrub brush into the suds, not the water. Clean the suede surface by scrubbing with the soap suds.
- Don’t forget to rinse the brush regularly with clean water to prevent stains.
- When it’s done, wipe away all the suds with a microfiber cloth damped in clean water.
- Lastly, air-dry the furniture and vacuum when dry.
And that’s it! Do you need more tips on house cleaning? You can take a look at our article “How to Clean a Messy House.”
