[Steven Butler]

Hi are these the same material??
Only heard of faux suede..?? Customer called it faux leather...

[elliott cleaning]

'Faux' is the French for false - fake - imitation.  So sure - you can get these both for suede as well as leather

[john martin]

faux suede being microfiber ?  then this would be faux leather being microfiber

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/d9/74/f1/d974f1b16c4d30b8fbca735ac98aa5fd.jpg

[Steven Butler]

How would you recommend cleaning these...HWE or shampoo??

[john martin]

How would you recommend cleaning these...HWE or shampoo??

Me , iv only come accross a handfull of those exact suites , and also its sometimes on the base of large corner units with different cushions .
I have always steam cleaned them ,  cleaned well but i always feel a tiny bit of the original almost wet leather look is lost , its very subtle and the customer had never said anything , by time i get to them they are usually stained with black greasy spots and the customer is just delighted to be rid of those .

[Steven Butler]

Cheers John, what products did you use?

[dutchman]

I have cleaned a lot of these suites. The picture John has uploaded would be a sofa I would avoid as the fabric has had a treatment to give it that shaded look. You will remove this when you clean it. You would need to get custy to sign something for a suite like that. I have only seen a few with this shaded look. 90 % are self coloured and are fairly strightforward if you know what to expect. The fabric natrually get thinner with wear and becomes rippled. You should look at the seats to see if this has happened. The backs and sides should be as new so you can see the difference between the two. Dont overheat the cleaning solution. 40 degrees max as too much heat will make the fabric ripple and may not go back when dry. Dont use any solvents on the fabric as that can delaminate it and is not fixable. They clean well enough though as the fabric is stain resistant. The solution runs off a lot though so you need sheets down to catch the run off. After cleaning one cushion wipe with a clean cloth to dry off and see if there is any dirt left. Do one as a tester if you are unsure and with till its dry.

[tim handley]

ive got a faux  rolex...............

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

Clean well but be careful of delamination if there is evidence of bubbles.

A good pre spray, work in with a towel or brush , extract and it should look good.

Suede is leather.

If its real suede the suite would have cost 5K plus.
 Cheers

Doug

[tim handley]

only done a handfull of faux suede suits, but never had any issues. I guess do all usual checks/tests, dont over wet, you should be okay..................

[LTT Leathercare]

Faux suede is generally a microfibre fabric - Alcantara, buffalo etc
Faux leather is generally PVC or equivalent printed to look like leather
Hope this helps
Judyb

[John Kelly]

Got some Faux Leather in the unit so thought I'd have a good look at it including through the microscope. Strange stuff. The backing fabric seems to be a random collection of fibres. The face is a woven plastic with bits of what look like resin or could just be different coloured fibres.

[John Kelly]

Face fibres.

[LTT Leathercare]

The reverse of faux leather will always be a fabric of some sort - always a good clue if you can get to the reverse.
The top surface will depend on what has been used to create the 'plastic' finish and often can look very like pigment coated leather so is not always a very good indicator as they can print it to look like leather grain.
Microscopes are really useful as long as you know what you are looking for
Hope this helps
Judyb

[Steven Butler]

Heres the suite i have coming up..has anyone cleaned similar? Its from Harveys so probably popular.

[john martin]

bit hard to tell from the pic but i'd say its microfiber like the pic i linked a few posts back but without the shaded effect .
I came accross two of the darn things in the past two weeks .   Should be fine for a light steam clean , possible risk of slight fading if u crazy with the heat and chemicals .  The one in your pic looks fairly  clean anyway .

[dutchman]

You would definately want to turn up and do a pre test on a patch. Leave it to dry natrually and see if the customer is happy. I looked at one similar to that about 18 months ago. Did a pre test and it changed completely. The grain on the fabric was taken away by the cleaning and it looked different from the rest of the suite. I think its a type of starch they used to give it the grain and it  dissolves in water... Your might be different but its best to test.