How to clean vegan leather: 6 products checked, 3 to skip

Wipe vegan leather with a damp cloth, which is all Dr. Martens and Blundstone tell you to do with their vegan boots. When that isn’t enough, use mild soap or a cleaner that names faux leather on its label, like Leather Honey’s. Skip leather conditioner: all three we read rule themselves out for vinyl, faux leather or vegan materials.

The one that caught me out is the conditioner with the cleanest conscience in the aisle. Leather Honey says its Leather Conditioner is free of animal-derived ingredients, and of dairy and other animal products. Then, a few lines further down, it says the conditioner is not for use on faux leather or vinyl, because it is designed to soak into a leather’s pores and cannot do that on a surface that has none. Weiman says the same about its leather conditioner and vinyl, in almost the same words. So the bottle that is vegan in every ingredient is the wrong bottle for a vegan bag, and the one Dr. Martens sells next to its boots is wrong both ways: its Wonder Balsam contains yellow beeswax and the label says it is not suitable for vegans or vegan materials. If you are not sure what your bag is actually made of, our guide to what vegan leather is is the place to start, because the answer decides the cloth.

What the makers of the shoes and bags say

The most useful care instructions I found came from the people who make the vegan product, not the people who make the cleaner. They are short.

Dr. Martens’ page for its Vegan 1460 boot describes the boot as made with absolutely no animal products, and gives one line of material care, “Wipe away dirt using a damp cloth.” Blundstone’s help center, for its vegan boots, says to wipe them with a damp cloth, let them air dry away from direct sunlight and heaters, and wash the footbed separately in mild soap and water. It adds that no creams are required, because the upper is onMicro microfibre. That is a boot company telling you that you don’t need a boot product, which is not something I expected to read on a boot company’s website.

The plant-based leathers ask for a little more. Ananas Anam, the maker of Piñatex, says Piñatex is water resistant only, not waterproof. For Piñatex Original and Mineral it recommends a natural colorless wax applied sparingly with a clean cloth; for Piñatex Metallic and Performance, a damp cloth with mild soap. It does not name a wax. Beeswax is a natural wax and an animal product, so if you are following that instruction, choose a plant wax such as carnauba and read the tin.

Put together, the makers’ instructions come down to water, a soft cloth, mild soap when water is not enough, and nothing heavier unless the material is one of the plant-based ones that asks for wax. Everything below is about the products sold for the step after the damp cloth, and which of them belong anywhere near a vegan bag.

The short list

Product	For faux or vegan leather, per the maker	Animal-free, per the maker	Price on the maker’s store
Leather Honey Leather Cleaner	Yes, faux leather and vinyl	Yes, no animal products	$14.99 (4 oz concentrate) to $29.99 (16 oz)
Dr. Bronner’s Unscented Pure-Castile Liquid Soap	Not mentioned; it is the “mild soap”	Yes, vegan	$4.69 (3.4 oz) to $64.99 (1 gallon)
Chemical Guys VentRight Perforated Leather Cleaner	Yes, faux and vegan leather	Not stated	$14.99
Leather Honey Leather Conditioner	No: not for faux leather or vinyl	Yes, no animal-derived ingredients	$27.99 (8 oz)
Weiman Leather Cleaner & Conditioner	No: cannot penetrate vinyl	No animal ingredient in its list; two items unsourced	$9.99
Dr. Martens Wonder Balsam	No: not suitable for vegan materials	No: contains yellow beeswax	$12 (85 ml)

Six products, one by one

Leather Honey Leather Cleaner

Our pick for the step after the damp cloth. Leather Honey says the cleaner works on leather, faux leather, vinyl and plastic, and that it is free of common allergens, nut and seed oils, and animal products, including honey. The name was always going to make a vegan suspicious; the page answers that before you have to ask. The instructions are simple: a small amount on a lint-free cloth, wipe the surface, concentrating on the soiled areas, and let it dry, after a spot test somewhere out of sight.

It comes three ways. The 4 oz concentrate at $14.99 makes 32 ounces once diluted, at 1 oz of cleaner to 8 oz of water; the 8 oz ready-to-use bottle is $24.99; and the 16 oz spray with a UV protectant is $29.99, which the maker pitches at car interiors. If you only clean a bag and a pair of boots, the concentrate works out cheapest per ounce of usable cleaner by our arithmetic, and it is the one I would order. Don’t buy the cleaner expecting the matching conditioner to follow it onto a vegan bag; that is the next product down the page, and it is the one Leather Honey itself rules out for faux leather.

Dr. Bronner’s Unscented Pure-Castile Liquid Soap

For the “mild soap” in the makers’ instructions, this is the one we would reach for. Dr. Bronner’s says every product it sells in the US and Canada is Certified Vegan, except its lip balms and body balms, which contain beeswax, and the unscented soap’s page carries a vegan mark and says it has no detergents or added foaming agents. It is made with organic oils, coconut, olive and palm among them, and organic jojoba wax.

Dr. Bronner’s does not say anything about leather, real or otherwise, on the page we read, and it gives no dilution for cleaning, only for a foaming soap (1 part soap to 3 of water) and for washing. So this is our line, not the maker’s: a few drops in a bowl of water on a soft cloth, which is what Piñatex describes for its Metallic and Performance grades, then a second cloth with plain water to take the soap off. Sizes run from 3.4 oz at $4.69 to a gallon at $64.99 on its store. A bottle will outlast the bag. Skip it if you want one product that cleans and leaves a finish; this one only cleans.

Chemical Guys VentRight Perforated Leather Cleaner

This is for car seats with holes in them. Chemical Guys says VentRight is made to clean, condition and protect perforated and ventilated leather without clogging the holes, in natural, faux and vegan leather, with UV protection, at $14.99. It is the only product here that puts the words “vegan leather” on its own page.

It does not say what is in the bottle. “Vegan leather” on that page describes the seat, not the cleaner, and the page we read lists no ingredients and makes no animal-free claim. If your car has perforated synthetic seats, this is the one built for the job; if you need to know the bottle is vegan too, it does not tell you, and we would use the Leather Honey cleaner on a cloth instead, keeping it out of the holes.

Leather Honey Leather Conditioner

The vegan conditioner that is not for vegan leather. Leather Honey describes the formula as pH-balanced and free of silicone, solvents, fragrances and animal-derived ingredients, and says it is free of dairy and other animal products. All of that is good news for a leather sofa. The same page says not to use it on suede, faux leather or vinyl, and explains that it penetrates the leather’s pores and cannot do that on surfaces that are not porous, naming faux leather, vinyl and plastic.

At $27.99 for 8 oz, that is a lot to spend on something the maker says will not work on your bag. If you also own second-hand real leather, this is the conditioner to buy for that, and it will not put an animal product on it. For anything PU or PVC, leave it on the shelf.

Weiman Leather Cleaner & Conditioner

Weiman’s spray is $9.99 and sold for leather furniture, car interiors, purses and shoes. Its FAQ asks whether it can be used on vinyl and answers no: it is made to penetrate and absorb into leather and cannot penetrate vinyl, so it cannot produce the same results. That is the same answer Leather Honey gives. Weiman’s leather wipes give the identical answer to the identical question on their own page.

Weiman publishes its ingredients: water, mineral oil, an acrylic polymer, sorbitan derivatives, avocado, safflower and sesame oils, a UV filter, fragrance and preservatives. Nothing on the list names an animal source. The sheet does not say where the sorbitan derivatives come from, and the fragrance is a mixture with no breakdown. It is the wrong product for vegan leather before you even get to that question.

Dr. Martens Wonder Balsam

On a site about vegan products this one is easy. The 85 ml tin is $12 on the US store and lists yellow beeswax, mineral oils, petroleum spirit and petroleum-derived wax. The page says, twice, that it is not suitable for vegans or vegan materials. Dr. Martens’ own care guide describes it as nourishing leather with beeswax and mineral oils.

Credit where it is due, the warning is on the product page in plain words. It is also the reason the shoe care kit at the till is worth reading before it goes in the bag with your vegan boots. For those, Dr. Martens says a damp cloth, and that costs nothing.

Scratches

This section replaces our old page on scratches, which suggested olive oil, vinegar and sanding, with no source for any of it. I could not find a maker of vegan leather that publishes a fix for a scratch. Dr. Martens and Blundstone stop at the damp cloth, and Piñatex says only that the material will evolve as it ages and that a wax refreshes the surface.

The closest product we read is Leather Honey’s Leather and Vinyl Recoloring Balm, sold to restore faded, scratched or worn areas, made with what the maker calls vegetable-based dyes, and described as designed for all smooth leathers. The page we read did not say whether it is free of animal ingredients, the way the cleaner and conditioner pages do. Ask Leather Honey before you buy it for a vegan bag, and try any of it on a hidden spot first.

Buying it

For most vegan bags and shoes, the honest shopping list is a soft cloth. Add Dr. Bronner’s unscented soap for dirt that water will not move, and Leather Honey’s Leather Cleaner concentrate if you want one bottle that names faux leather on the label. Buy the VentRight only for perforated car seats. Leave the leather conditioners and the Wonder Balsam for real leather, or for nobody.

How long a bag lasts depends on more than how it is cleaned, and our guide to how long vegan leather lasts has the lab test that compared the materials.