Consumer

• Feb 19, 2007 5:45 pm US/Eastern
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  Liquid Leather: Does It Really Do That?

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Liquid Leather: Does It Really Do That?

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― Professionally repairing a hole in your leather couch or coat can put an even bigger hole in your budget; but one product promises to make them as good as new for under $20.

The commercials on TV say Liquid Leather can make that torn leather jacket like new again. According to the ads, all you have to do is fill in the hole, cover with a finishing patch and let dry for a perfect match that lasts forever.

KDKA Consumer Editor Yvonne Zanos decided to put Liquid Leather to the test to find out: Does It Really Do That?

Roberta Weissberg not only sells leather coats, jackets and bags at her Shadyside store, she also makes and repairs at least a half-dozen holes every week. Weissberg has tried Liquid Leather, so she agreed to show us how to use it.

Each kit comes with seven repair compound colors and a mixing chart.

According to the directions, you have to clean the leather and use a backing cloth before evenly applying the repair compound – leaving a very thin film around the damaged area.

After applying the repair compound, you have to select a grain paper that matches the grain of the leather and use an iron to heat up a tool included in the kit. Once the compound dries – at least two minutes later – you simply peel back the paper.

"The problem is, if you are looking at it," Weissberg adds, "You can see that this does not look like this leather."

Aside from being messy to work with, our finished repairs looked worse than the original damage – and the rips easily pulled apart.

As a result, Weissberg doesn't use Liquid Leather. She prefers to use a special leather cement glue instead.

These leather experts gave Liquid Leather a thumbs down.

"It doesn't work for me," Yvonne agreed. "I really didn't think this product did what it promised at all. It was messy, it didn't hold together very well and it looked bad. For $15, plus shipping and handling, we didn't think it really did do that."

(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)