Real leather care is mostly restraint: wipe it down, keep it off heat, and wear it. Here's the short, honest version.
How do you care for a leather jacket?
Wipe it with a dry cloth to keep dust off. Let it dry naturally if it gets caught in the rain — never near heat. Store it on a wide hanger with room to breathe. Don't over-condition it, and skip the harsh cleaning products. Good leather doesn't need much; wearing it is most of the maintenance it will ever ask for.
That's genuinely it. The rest of this is the detail behind those lines.
Everyday care
A leather jacket worn regularly looks after itself more than you'd think. The oils in the leather stay active, the leather flexes, and a patina builds. Your everyday job is light:
- Wipe it with a dry cloth every so often to lift dust and surface grime. This is the whole of routine STREGA care — a soft, dry cloth.
- Wear it. Movement keeps the leather supple. A jacket that lives in a closet stiffens faster than one that's used.
- Let it air after a long day before you put it away.
What to avoid
This is where most leather gets ruined — not by neglect, but by over-treatment.
- Heat. Radiators, hair dryers, hot cars, direct sun for hours. Heat dries leather out and cracks it. If your jacket gets wet, dry it slowly at room temperature, away from any heat source.
- Soaking. Light rain is fine — wipe it down and let it dry naturally. Don't submerge it, and don't put leather anywhere near a washing machine.
- Harsh products. No detergents, no alcohol-based cleaners, no all-purpose sprays. They strip the finish and dry the leather.
- Over-conditioning. This one surprises people. Flooding leather with conditioner softens it too much, darkens it unevenly, and can leave it greasy. Leather wears better than it ages — let it. Condition rarely, lightly, and only if the leather actually feels dry, and only with a product made for leather.
The honest rule: leather wants less than you think. When in doubt, do nothing and wear it.
Storage
How you store a leather jacket between seasons matters more than any product.
- Use a wide or padded hanger — wire hangers dent the shoulders.
- Give it room to breathe. Don't crush it between heavy coats.
- Keep it out of direct sunlight and away from heat.
- If you cover it, use a breathable cloth garment bag, never plastic — plastic traps moisture and the leather can't breathe.
- Store it somewhere with normal humidity. Too dry and it stiffens; too damp and it can grow mildew.
Caring for a detachable sherpa collar
Some of our bombers come with a detachable sherpa collar — a soft faux-fur trim. It cares differently from the leather, which is part of why it detaches.
- Take it off before you do anything with the jacket's leather, and store the two separately if you like.
- Don't soak it or machine-wash it. Shake it out to lift dust, and smooth the pile back into place with your hand or a soft brush.
- If it flattens from wear, a gentle brush in the direction of the pile lifts it again.
- Keep it away from heat too — the same rule as the leather.
Because it's faux-fur, it's lower-maintenance than the leather, not higher. Detach, dust off, smooth down.
A note on patina
The marks a jacket picks up — the soft creases at the elbow, the slight darkening at the cuffs, the way the front relaxes — aren't damage. They're the jacket becoming yours. Vegetable-tanned full-grain leather is built to do this; it improves with use rather than just surviving it. Caring for leather isn't about keeping it new. It's about letting it age well. (Here's why veg-tanned leather ages the way it does.)
The STREGA care line
We put it on every jacket and every product page, because it's the truest thing we can tell you:
Leather wears better than it ages. Wipe with a dry cloth. Don't over-condition. Let it live with you.
FAQ
How do you clean a leather jacket at home?
For everyday cleaning, wipe it with a soft, dry cloth to lift dust and surface grime. Avoid detergents, alcohol-based cleaners and all-purpose sprays, which strip the finish. For anything serious, use a professional leather cleaner rather than risking it at home.
Should you condition a leather jacket?
Rarely, and lightly. Over-conditioning softens leather too much, darkens it unevenly and can leave it greasy. Only condition if the leather genuinely feels dry, and only with a product made for leather. Most of the time, doing nothing is the right call.
What happens if a leather jacket gets wet?
Light rain is fine. Wipe it down and let it dry naturally at room temperature, away from any heat source. Never dry leather with a hair dryer, on a radiator or in a hot car — heat dries it out and cracks it.
How do you store a leather jacket?
On a wide or padded hanger with room to breathe, out of direct sunlight and away from heat. If you cover it, use a breathable cloth garment bag, never plastic.
How do you care for the detachable sherpa collar?
Detach it, shake or brush off dust, and smooth the faux-fur pile back into place. Don't soak it or machine-wash it, and keep it away from heat — the same rule as the leather.