Cleaning Your Car Seats After The School Run

Crumbs, sticky fingers, spilt juice and unidentifiable odours: How does such a little person make such a big mess in such a short journey?

Our team of specialists have put together 9 top tips to help you clean and care for your leather or fabric car interior to keep it in pristine condition.

1. Protect your car seats from day one

The best place to start is with prevention. 

Many new cars will often come with a care kit which includes a leather protection cream or a fabric protector, which we recommend using as soon as you get your car back home.

These products will add a protective barrier to the surface of the leather and fabric which will help repel stains, protect the leather surface from wear and tear and will make your seats easier to clean in the future.

2. Clean your car seats regularly 

Whether it’s new or old, as well as protecting your car's interior, regular cleaning is a must. 

For a quick wipe-down, a damp cloth is enough but for typically they will need a more thorough clean using specialist cleaning product every 2-3 months to keep them in top condition. 

Footprints on the back of your leather seats? Typically this means dirt and grass stains, but as the weather gets colder and colder, some of us will inevitably be dealing with road salt. We recommend cleaning the leather as quickly as possible to avoid the leather from drying out and eventually cracking!

3. Only use specialist cleaners 

As a mum, they're always in close reach but never use baby wipes for cleaning your leather car interior. 

Baby wipes and surface cleaners have chemicals and substances in them that can cause drying or colour loss.

Be prepared and always keep a small leather or fabric care kit in your glove compartment. 

We recommend that you use our Leather Care Kit and Fabric Care Kit, available to buy from our online store.

4. Avoid greasy food and brightly coloured drinks

Children often go for the brightest treat in the shop, whether it be a bubble gum drink or a bright orange, cheesy corn puff where the colourings dye their skin, the flavouring sticks to their fingers, and crumbs can be found in almost every seam!

Not only is it difficult to remove the colouring from lightly coloured leather and fabric, but leave the crumbs long enough and you will be left with a small patch of grease which like any spill, needs to be treated as quickly as possible.

5. Change wet clothes to avoid dye transfer

Dye transfer is one of the toughest stains to remove and something we deal with regularly. 

One of the most common causes of dye transfer is sitting on light coloured leather and fabric, wearing new denim jeans or wet clothing.

Avoid dye transfer by protecting your leather and fabric and washing new jeans before your little one wears them.

6. Treat stains as quickly as possible

Going back to point four and five, it is extremely important to treat any stain as quickly as possible with a specialist cleaner.

If a leather or fabric cleaner won't remove the stain, try specialist stain removers.  

We have a range of products designed to remove all kinds of stains from fabric and leather.

7. Don't forget about your child's seat

Scientists at the Univerity of Birmingham found that children’s car seats have twice as many dangerous germs as the average toilet!

Give the covers a wipe down when necessary but remove and machine wash to ensure you properly get rid of all those germs.

8. Keep it smelling fresh

For any accidents, we recommend that you use our Urine & Odour Remover. 

This advanced urine cleaner neutralises, deodorises urine upon direct contact and prevents staining when the problem is tackled quickly.

You can also infuse the traditional smell of leather into car your with our Leather Aroma Gel. A solid aroma gel that lasts up to six months!

9. Too little, too late?

If these top tips have reached you too late, fear not! We have a range of care and restoration products on our online store that will have your leather or fabric interior looking like new again.