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Leather Care

Our leather goods are designed to be used and loved for decades, and leather, like any natural material, will reflect that love over time. 

Please be mindful of the following:

  • Small Scars and imperfections owing to the everyday experiences in the life of a steer.
  • Dye color variations and streaks where dye saturates around the neck and limb creases in the hide.
  • Slight variations in color from one load of leather we receive from the tannery to another.

It's normal for your leather to get dirty every once in a while. The simplest way to clean any dirt off your items is to lightly scrub with water and dish soap. Be sure to only use the soft side of your sponge!

Our Kodiak Leather (aka the Original Oberon Bull) is deep drum dyed, not painted. This means the dye penetrates completely and will never scuff white. All drum dyed leather will fade over time, especially those in the least stable spectrums of blue and purple. Once faded, the original dye cannot be restored.

Try to avoid leaving your leather cover or accessory in direct sunlight, like the dashboard of your car when it's 150 degrees on the front seat and extracting your legs from the upolstery requires a trip to the burn center, on a towel at the beach under ozone layer free sunlight (no, we don't recommend sun screen for your cover) or under florescent or bright incandescent lights day after day. The color will fade and once faded there is little to nothing that can be done.

The blue/purple spectrum leather dyes are the most susceptible to fading.

We have a friend with the odd habit of rubbing his turqouise ring against the side of his nose to bring out the luster of the stone. Weird but wise! Small scuffs on your cover can be remedied the same way, though we don't want to discover YouTube videos of fans rubbing their covers against their noses! Here's the tip we recommend. For small scuffs or wear marks, simply rub your thumb or finger along the cleft between your nose and nostril for a bit of oil. With light pressure rub the spot on your cover in a circular motion. The scuff should darken and become less obvious.

"Feed" your cover once a year or so by applying a light even coating of 'Bick 4 Leather Lotion', a product we use in our shop every day to condition our covers before they’re shipped. Click Here to purchase this conditioner on our site. It’s also available in most shoe repair shops or online under the name Cadillac Boot & Shoe repair lotion.

Don’t drench your cover with conditioner. Biannual applications should be plenty. The application of any cream or oil will darken the color of leather slightly. Please! Never use gooey stuff like Mink Oil, Neats Foot Oil or oily dressings. Our golden rule: test a small spot, go slow.

Don't panic! These types of spots can be remedied or partly nullified depending on the severity. First try simply rubbing it with your thumb or fingers. If slight, the natural oils in your hand will help soften or dilute a small mark. If you have a large pen mark or greasy food spots promise us you will never use paint thinner or other spot removing chemicals to remove them. Remember, drastic treatment will only make the problem worse by lightening the leather and making the spot even more obvious.

To tackle that big dollop of peanut butter and jelly, salad dressing, puppy slobber, buttered popcorn fingerprints, sticky sauce or "what's that smell? OMG the baby" you said you'd never let, whoops, drop on your cover, apply a damp cloth immediately to remove the offending substance. Let the wet spot dry.

If it’s a small spot try removing oil residue with the light touch of a clean eraser. Don't go wild or you’ll rub too much of the color, leaving that spot different from the rest. For tough jobs, dampen a soft cotton cloth with plain warm water. Rub the spot, then the whole surface, so that the moisture is consistent. It will look mottled at first but should dry just fine. Apply a light coating of Bick 4 or Cadillac Leather Lotion. To the entire cover. The spot may still show but will be blended and less obvious.

Repair Services

We offer leather reconditioning for a $45 fee. If you are interested in having us recondition your leather cover or accessory, please contact us at sales@oberondesign.com to make arrangements. We can’t promise any miracles but we’re happy to clean and condition your cover and renew bungees and thong closure straps or replace damaged buttons.  

We can often fix covers that have ended up as highway roadkill or those with puppy chewed straps if the damage isn’t severe. However, repairs require a case by case study with varying complexity. Please send us an email (with photos if possible) at sales@oberondesign.com and we’ll let you know what can be done and at what cost. Of course, if we determine that the problem originated at Oberon we will fix your cover at no charge!

Our Hair Clips are guaranteed.  If it ever breaks contact us by email with the details and we'll repair or replace it free of charge.

Loose an earring? If we are still actively casting your missing earring style we’re happy to sell a single

Color Variations

Leather is a natural product. Variation in grain, texture and color are bound to occur. We use specialized equipment to photograph our covers and do our best to insure color accuracy and consistency. We have done the same with the swatches presented here.  However, these are representative only and may not be exactly the same as what you'll see in real life. Please keep in mind that:

  • What you see on your screen may not be exactly what you'll see, cover in hand.
  • Device screens and their settings are highly variable regarding color representations.
  • There can be variations in dye lots we receive from the tannery every 4-6 months, usually very slight.
  • We cannot re-photograph every product with every new lot of leather.
  • The biggest variable for what "sky blue" or "marigold" (for example) should look like, is one's own personal perspective and expectations.

Please make your color choice with a generous spirit. If you are particular about color choices we highly recommend ordering a color sample swatch set. Order a set of Leather Color Samples. Click Here.

Our leather is dyed at the tannery. Colors can vary slightly depending on the dye lot. Only plastic or vinyl covers present a flawless surface. The plus side of less coated leather like ours is that it’s less processed and will absorb natural oils from your hands that guarantee your cover and color will develop a deep, glossy patina over time.

The color and image choices offered for each product is selected for specific reasons: aesthetics, popularity and technical complexity. Our dense, complex line images can’t be seen very well in dark colors and for technical reasons, certain images cannot be produced to our quality standard in particular colors. There is method to the madness! Though some of our images look great in multiple colors, the first color choice shown on the product pages of our site is generally both the most popular and /or selected by the artists as the most appropriate.

Certain products are available in custom color/image combinations.  Customization charges start at $25. See our Custom Product Page for more information.

Our Process

We purchase all of our leathers from Hide House, a local leather supplier located in Napa, CA. All of Hide House's leathers are sourced from within the United States and imported from around the world.

It takes approximately fifteen steps to make an Oberon cover, some covers being more complicated than others. Here’s a snap shot of the process:

  • Grading the hide for a cutting strategy
  • Cutting out the cover
  • Cutting pockets and liners
  • Tooling the image
  • Gluing liners and pockets to the cover
  • Trimming the glued pockets and cover for an even edge
  • Dying the edges of the cover: first dye
  • 2nd application of dye: 2nd dye coating
  • Buffing and polishing of cover edges
  • Attaching and riveting of all bumpers, straps and tabs (steps of their own to create)
  • All sewing steps
  • Attaching buttons (all our closure buttons are hand cast in our shop) bungees and thongs
  • Hand finishing of image
  • Conditioning and cleaning of cover
  • Three person quality inspection process

Meet Our Leathers

Meet Our Leathers