Saphir

Why r/BuyItForLife recommends Saphir

13 mentions from real owners

• #1Dec 25, 2025

  Leather jacket cleaning + conditioning advice

  Personally, I would not use a foaming soap/cleanser on leather bags. Maybe on sneakers it would be fine, as that’s where I see most of the ads are for. IMHO, the leather jacket above needs to be nourished/conditioned before anything else. It appears to be an extreme case, almost to the point of being unrecoverable. A good place to start is somewhere inconspicuous, like an inside spot. I use Fiebings yellow saddle soap for just about everything. For my finer shoes, I use Saphir branded saddle soap. Fiebings would also be perfectly fine for my shoes as well, but I had already purchased a small tin of Saphir before I bought a big tin of Fiebings for my nonprofit. Here’s me workflow for using saddle soap: I have two small bowls of warm water. One horsehair applicator brush dedicated to cleaning only. A generous supply of clean microfiber towels(available cheap on Amazon) Wet the brush with warm water and then work some saddle soap on the brush. Pick a section to start on, and then with gently pressure work the soap quickly with the brush in a circular motion and let the soap develop some good sudsing action. It won’t take too long if the brush is wet enough. You can always dip the brush into the first bowl of water just to add a few more drops of water to keep the soap from drying up. Once you’re satisfied with that section, grabs a clean microfiber towel and wipe the soap off. If you feel that the towel isn’t that dirty from the soap being wiped up, use it for the next section. If not, toss it out, recycle it, wash it, or whatever you feel like doing with it. Rinse your brush off in the second bowl of water. I usually use hot water here as it helps cleanse the dirty soap from the applicator brush more thoroughly and quickly. Repeat each section until your item is completely cleaned. I usually set the item, (in my case almost always shoes), aside overnight to dry. If you’ve done this earlier in the day, it would probably be safe to come back to it in the late afternoon or evening, and then continue to the conditioning. This is just a generalization of the initial workflow that I use when cleaning dress shoes for my nonprofit organization. Each leather is different and may require different approaches to care and maintenance.

  View on Redditopen_in_new
• #2Dec 25, 2025

  Leather jacket cleaning + conditioning advice

  I’m using Saphir Crème Universelle, maybe even a second pass after a few days, followed by Saphir Renovateur. The Renovateur has a very very mild cleaner within, but will mostly nourish the leather. (I swear I am not affiliated with Saphir.) If the leather isn’t that bad: Both Saphir and Fiebings make saddles soaps that are very safe and do a great job

  View on Redditopen_in_new
• #3Dec 24, 2025

  Leather jacket cleaning + conditioning advice

  Any conditioner you use is going to trap whatever dirt/stains that are in the leather. First, wipe the jacket down with a dry cloth. Use saddle soap SPARINGLY at first with a dampened cloth or sponge in small sections first. Do not leather the leather become soaked. Wipe each section with a barely dampened sponge or microfiber cloth. After that you’re going to let the jacket air dry, preferably overnight, but at least 3-4 hours. No direct sunlight and no heat source on it. Now it should be safe to apply a conditioner. Personally, I would use Saphir Creme Universelle. Any other emulsified conditioner should be safe. You definitely want to use light applications and buff with a dry microfiber towel or even gently with a horsehair brush. A yak-hair brush would be ideal but they are not cheap. Reconditioning leather that appears to be that dry will take a few days,at the least, to safely do so. A few other tips: • No neatsfoot oil, mink oil, or greases • No soaking or “foaming” saddle soap • No alcohol cleaners or wipes • No heat to speed drying If someone, perhaps a conservator, wants to tweak the recommendations here: Feel free. No offense will be taken.

  View on Redditopen_in_new
• #4Dec 4, 2025

  Gold Pfeil Gladstone Bag brought back from the brink

  Here was my process more generally: When I first received the bag, I inspected leather: there was probable water marking, oil stains, UV bleaching, and the bull hide itself had grown very dry. This didn’t bode well for keeping the leather the original shade; regardless, I decided I would go at it with leather cleaner and then chart the most apposite course of action. To my surprise—but I really shouldn’t have been surprised given the quality of the leather—I was able to remove much of the dirt and grime, but it became apparent that the leather was bone dry. In order to optimally condition the leather for another forty years, I then decided that it would be best to eschew the normal concerns of darkening this sort of leather with deeply hydrating products and rather focus on revivifying this ancient beast. It took: 1 application of Saphir Crème Universelle 2 applications of Saphir Renovateur 2 applications of Saphir Pommadier Medium Brown Cream (Heavy and aggressive buffing between each application of product) But she lives again. The Pommadier is, I gather, a nonstandard product to use on a bag such as this, but I wanted to suffuse the bull hide with the Pommadier’s rich pigments and, thus preserve the leather’s natural depth and patina, rather than flatten it out with a dye job.

  View on Redditopen_in_new
• #5Nov 2, 2025

  What’s a purchase that’s not fun, not flashy but now you swear by it?

  Good quality shoe care products (like Saphir's polish and wax) for leather shoes. Makes all other brands look bad in comparison.

  View on Redditopen_in_new
• #6Sep 7, 2025

  New leather shoes advice

  Agree with the above comment. However if you want to get the most mileage from them, apply a cream renovator, like Saphir Renovateur, then brush the shoe with a horse hair brush. You might then apply a waterproofing spray or a high wax content polish. (I use all Saphir products, but I am not affiliated with them in any way). You could also apply a waterproofing spray after the renovator and call it a day as well. For my shoes, I use the renovator, mirror gloss wax(about two coats for the vamp and many more for the toe and heel if I’m going to a mirror shine), and then use a pate de luxe to get that *chef’s kiss* shine. YMMV based on the products and skill level, but it might be better to practice and develop your skills on a lower priced shoe like the ones you purchased! Better to screw up a pair of 79£ shoes versus a 790£ pair! Have a great day everyone!

  View on Redditopen_in_new
• #7Aug 8, 2025

  Need help, dog damaged leather ottoman.

  I’d try a Saphir product. Probably Renovateur.

  View on Redditopen_in_new
• #8Apr 8, 2025

  A $5 brush is a game changer.

  A few things you need once you start buying quality leather; Horse hair brush. Saddle soap. Saphir cream. Mink oil. Shoe / boot tree. This is definitely part of the essential maintenance kit! I give my boots a quick brush down every few uses. Not as concerned about shine / polish as that's not the type of boot I wear but keeping them free from debris / dust / particulate? An absolute necessity I'm no expert by any means, anyone who knows better feel free to chime in. My entire kit is pretty much exclusively Amazon trigger-pulls.

  View on Redditopen_in_new
• #9Apr 1, 2025

  Really got humbled today about buying some quality leather care

  I’ve used [Saphir Canadian](https://saphir.com/products/canadian) on a 60s-era Bonnie Cashin leather turnlock coat with great results. But that’s a finer leather that had some need for color restoration. Look into the lighter version of [Obenauf’s oil](https://www.obenaufs.com/natural-preserving-oils-p/leather-oil.htm) for this. Don’t start with their famed LP oil—just the regular one. You can work it into the leather with your hands or a soft, non-fraying cloth. But it’s got beeswax in it, so frankly, you’ll find getting it on your hands quite lovely and moisturizing. I’ve used it on a more rough-and-tumble Vanson jacket of my husband’s, some leather exterior shearling boots and a Knoll Wassily chair. When you do a jacket, you may find that it’ll easily drink up a couple of applications, so let it hang out overnight each time you do it.

  View on Redditopen_in_new
• #10Apr 1, 2025

  Really got humbled today about buying some quality leather care

  I recommend Saphir for finer leathers—like good handbags and leather clothing.

  View on Redditopen_in_new
• #11Jan 2, 2025

  Help me clean my BIFL leather boots?

  They kind of look like a mix of smooth leather and suede, but since it's all black it might not be as much an issue. Though for suede you will want a suede brush. The really fast version is: bursh>clean>moisturize>brush>protect Get a horse hair brush, saddle soap (for heavy cleaning), a leather moisturizer (when it's very light dirt you can go straight to this), and leather water proof (if you want). Saphir is supposed to be the best brand of products for leather maintenance, I use Bick. This video should be applicable. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NwU3\_LTqjs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NwU3_LTqjs) If it has suede this might help. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba5k6Ii70kY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba5k6Ii70kY)

  View on Redditopen_in_new
• #12Jan 2, 2025

  Care about expensive boots (advice)

  If the EG shoes were the same color, I would probably try the renovateur, but these boots have burnished makeup from the factory, which I read can be damaged by the renovateur. So I'd rather have a less harsh conditioner for them.

  View on Redditopen_in_new
• #13Jan 2, 2025

  Care about expensive boots (advice)

  That guy suggests not using saphir renovateur on shoes with crust leather, which I agree with because it’s possible that the cleaner in renovateur can change the color. That isn’t an issue with those Edward Green boots though since the leather is dyed, and having the cleaner in the conditioner will prevent the need of saddle soap in the future which is much harsher than the cleaner in renovateur. I’ve applied renovateur 100+ times to my shoes and never had an issue.

  View on Redditopen_in_new