Our leather sectional is really showing some wear. The worst parts are color faded and no longer have that smooth, waxed texture. The leather is dry and rough feeling in sections. Particularly where the dog sits to look out the bay window I've been googling how to DIY this and it seems like a recoloring paste is the favored option. Has anyone done this that can recommend the process? What product did you use? Any issues with it coming off after application?
If the leather that your furniture is made of is an un-coated (possibly vat) dyed or oiled/waxed leather then most any tack shop can supply a wide variety of oil and solvent bearing leather cleaner/softeners which work well to soften and almost restore old dried leather from which the original oils and softeners have evaporated.
However, many if not most of the contemporary leathers used for clothing, upholstery, car interiors and so forth have for the last 50 years or so been surface 'painted' with a tough, durable, flexible, and colored waterproof urethane coating that was applied using a solvent or catalytic cure. About the best treatment that can be had for these urethane coated leathers seems to be one of the better automotive leather upholstery cleaners which are principally (possibly and or likely) specialized detergent water based cleaners. Many seemingly well qualified online studies have exhaustively reported upon this issue/question and all(IMHO) have come to this same conclusion. The cracking of this coating seems un-repairable. I have unsuccessfully sought a solvent that might liquefy/repair the cracked urethane, but to no avail. The tack focused oil-based products that work so well on clean un-coated leather(such as for my tough 60 year old horsehide leather jacket) have done little to no good for me when applied to the urethane coated leathers such as on our older Danish teak/leather sofas and loveseats and on my(now 30 year old) fine leather men's sports coat.
Here is a place to start looking: https://fiebing.com/ There are many other good products as well but the bottom line, so far, seems to be the conclusions I reached as noted above. There is an interesting entrepreneurial opportunity for a top caliber polymer chemist however!
Here is a link for a USA supplier of Tarrago leather repair products. I located my small bottle of one of their matching repair dyes that came with the purchase of a very fine (very slightly used) and expensive leather couch & loveseat set about 15+ years ago. I have not yet used it however so I cannot attest to its performance. Tarrago SA offers 88 shades of color matching. This product seems possibly suitable for repairing coated leathers based on the veracity and/or applicability of the web site claims. It is not inexpensive and the quantities offered are quite small.
I've been googling how to DIY this and it seems like a recoloring paste is the favored option. Has anyone done this that can recommend the process? What product did you use? Any issues with it coming off after application?