What chemical destroys leather?
The two most commonly used chemicals that will cause severe damage to your leather are rubbing alcohol and acetone. Avoid any alcohol-based cleaning products for leather goods.
What weakens leather?
Products with harsh soaps, detergents, and chemicals can actually result in damaged leather rather than clean leather. Look for specially made leather cleaning solutions and leather restoration kits to make sure that you are taking car of your leather properly–other products can cause dry, cracked, dull leather.
What deteriorates leather?
However, just like any other material, leather is also prone to wear and tear. It may fade in color or dry out and crack over time. This is due to lack of proper leather care and environmental influences such as dust, sunlight, oils and rain damage and other things.
What causes leather to degrade?
Collagen based materials are very sensitive to the deterioration and undergo, mainly hydrolysis and oxidation. Namely acid hydrolysis and photooxidation are the most often causes of the disintegration of leather.