Pigmented: Fabric Dye Transfer Stain: How to Remove Dye Transfer Stain (from dress shirt) from my Off-White Leather Sofa?

[Simply Immaculate]

Thank you Roger for the invite

I have often just redyed the areas when there have been stains
and some that seem to just be unforgiving.

I have often repaired small holes to large ones including
damage from cat or dog clawing.

I have used the ink out on ink and have had much success with that
when there have been small ink issues

I am pretty impressed with Rogers answer and product for yet
another problem...........

I'm going to look more into the products available as I like to try new
things and have everything possible for any situation........there
always seems to be new ones that pop up that you never thought
of or ran upon.........

[paul moss]

Looking at the pictures and info, the dye transfer has come from the dye in the cotton fibre of the top. This is quite common with new clothes, that have not been washed a few times.
The trick with stain removal is always trying to remove the onset dye with out removing any of the host dyes, hence rendering the stain removal end result invisible.
Rogers answer is best practice as the use of the chemicals slowly and gently break down the dye transfer , this is much easier the newer the stain is , and as time moves on the stain will set in more and be harder to shift.

However this can be a lengthy process and not always 100% success visualy.

On expensive pigmented leathers I would take this course of action first as it is safest, on middle to cheap pigmented leathers I would follow a quicker process of removal.

Where as Roger uses the power of chemicals, I use the power of aggitation which plays a big part in general stain removal.

For quick removal I would first clean with a high ph and strong detergent cleaner using a wet melimine sponge ( I have no picture of one but Roger has and may post it) this usualy will remove all dye transfer instantly, especially if it is new transfer.
Should any transfer be left, I would repeat using a dye remover or alcohol (isopropyl) and that should remove the rest. After which I would then test service and apply top up of top coat if necessary.

If the stain is major and will not shift I will then clean with the melamine sponge but with dye prep ( solvent) and strip the area down, then redye and retop coat.

A stain that size would take between 5 and 15 minutes to do dependant on which level of removal and repair I had to do.

Hope this has been helpful.

[paul moss]

Just to add when using a melimine sponge, you should only use high foaming chemicals as low foaming sufficants will make the sponge very aggressive and will strip top coats and dyes quickly.

[Roger Koh]

Thanks to Paul for introducing the use of this sponge.

Before the knowledge of this sponge, for prep cleaning prior to refinishing, I would instead use sandpaper between 1000 to 1500 grit.

Now I use this sponge in combination with rinse3.0™ a pH 3.0 acidifier rinse to do the job.

It produces a better result consistently especially along tight creases, folds or button areas.

And it leaves fewer residues as compare to using sandpaper.

Here is a picture of the sponge available from fellow member (Nick Vousden-White - worldofclean.co.uk) and the rinse3.0™.

Roger Koh

[BSH]

Hello everyone,

Thanks for all your valuable feedback.

Roger (aka Leather Doctor) has been very helpful over the past few days in advising me how to remove the stain (and it appears that most of you agree with his approach). With his guidance, I tested the finish of my sofa and it is a finished leather rather than an aniline or semi-aniline. I'm really hoping the the stain can be removed without compromising the pigmentation.

I am fortunate to have Roger in my area so I'm going to pick up the products I need to get this sorted. I will update this thread with pics of my progress and end result.

I'm also going to clean and protect the entire sofa so that I can reduce the risk of this happening again!