Act fast with mild soap and water. Dye from jeans or dark clothes often wipes off while it's fresh, but it can sink into the coating and stay.
| Your situation | Try this |
|---|---|
| Fresh blue or green marks from jeans or a dark skirt | Clean straight away with mild soap and water (step 2). Caught early, transferred dye can often be removed, or at least reduced to a light haze. [2][9] |
| Marks that have been there a while | Try steps 3 and 4, but be ready for it not to come out: dye left on faux leather can pass through the top coat, and it's then often permanent. [1][2][9] |
| Pen or ink | A specialist ink and dye remover made for PU, left to work rather than rubbed (step 4). [10] |
| Grease, lotion or make-up | Songmont: sprinkle bicarbonate of soda or cornflour on the mark, leave it for several hours, brush it off, then wipe with a damp soapy cloth. [7] |
| A faux leather jacket | Check the care label. Cleanipedia says many faux leather clothes can be machine-washed if the label allows: inside out, in a mesh bag, on a cold delicates cycle. [5] |
| A faux leather sofa or car seat | Follow the maker's care instructions for that surface. [4][11] See also sofa cleaning codes. |
Faux leather is a fabric base with a plastic coating, which is what makes it more waterproof than real leather. [11] It looks like leather, but you can't treat it the same way. [5] Conditioners made for real leather can't soak in and just leave a greasy film. [7]
Dark denim dye often rubs off onto light-coloured faux leather bags as bluish or greyish smudges. [7] The indigo dye in jeans is a likely culprit. [2] Bags, white shoes and light upholstery are among the things it marks most. [4]
At first the dye sits on the surface. Left for a while, it goes through the clear top coat, and then normal cleaning can't reach it. [2][9] That's why speed matters more than the product you use.
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If the dye is fresh, this may be all it takes. If it's faded but not gone, repeat once or twice before moving on. [2][9]
Vinegar (Cleanipedia, for stains on faux leather that won't shift): [5]
Bicarb paste (Songmont, for colour transfer from jeans on a vegan leather bag): [7]
The sources disagree. Some makers of contract faux leather allow diluted isopropyl alcohol for stubborn stains. [1][3] Altfield says to avoid all solvent and alcohol-based cleaners on its faux leather, [6] and Songmont says alcohol strips the top coat of vegan leather bags and leaves dull or sticky patches. [7] We'd leave it off a bag unless the maker's instructions say it's safe.
Some removers are made for dye transfer on leather, PU and PVC and are left to work rather than rubbed. Geist Ink & Dye Remover is one; its maker says it doesn't make surface coatings swell or change their shine. [10]
The maker's directions for dye transfer: [10]
Don't use it on suede, nubuck or microfibre. [10]
Several faux leather makers say denim dye transfer onto lighter faux leather is usually not reversible. [1][3] Once dye has passed through the top coat, the stain is often permanent. [2]
Leathercare.com, which sells cleaners for leather and vinyl, says stains that have gone through the polyurethane coating of synthetic leather can't be cleaned out, even with a solvent: the surface has to be recoloured with a colour restorer for leather and vinyl instead. [9]