As a suggestion - maybe try "picking/lifting" the paint off with a straight pin or a hand sewing needle. I've not tried the needle or pin to remove paint on leather, but I managed to get too much conditioner into the cracks & crevices of a leather wallet & used a straight pin to remove the excess that wouldn't budge any other way. Or maybe a dental pick would work. (I've had success using a dental pick to remove paint from the grain of a wood door before staining it, so it might work to lift paint from leather.) A tedious job for sure.
Coach Rehab and Rescue Club
- Thread starter greenpixie
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The golden rule is the least invasive method first. Personally, I would give it a very warm, almost hot bath and let it soak a while, then I’d go at it with a soft nail brush. If that’s too slow, maybe try scraping with something softer than a butter knife (like a credit card or a plastic bowl scraper). I’d use acetone only as a last resort, if those other methods didn’t work at all. Acetone is used to deglaze leather before dying, the finish might return when you give it a few coats of CPR, but it really dries the leather out. That’s been my experience, hope it helps.
I just acquired a vintage stewardess bag. There were some strips of duct tape stuck on the interior on the inside zip pocket suede. I wondered, why? It pulled off easily, being who knows how many decades old. What I found underneath was disgusting!! There was gum (I think it was gum) and the foil wrappings on the gum all misshapen and melted and stuck in varying size globs hard as rock on the suede. So, rather than clean a mess in their bag, they covered it up with duct tape? Crazy. Anyway. I soaked the bag and then scrubbed the area with a toothbrush got really ALL the gum off it, but there remains speckles of foil and adhesive residue stuck on the suede. My idea is to pick at the pieces of foil with a tweezer. Any best ideas on how to remove duct tape residue from suede? I should have taken a picture of the original shocking mess. However, here's what it looks like now.
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Hopefully others will chime in. I might attempt Goo Gone on cotton swab if I had no other suggestions.
I actually found a solution! I decided to try 99% isopropyl alcohol (I’ve used it for past dye projects & its WAY better than acetone in my opinion. It works just as well but doesn’t do as much damage). I applied it to each spot with a q-tip & then gently flicked with my nail. This is the difference on the strap in less than 2 minutes. It doesn’t look like it changed the appearance of the leather, but red leather is a lot tricker than black so YMMV
. I figured it was better to experiment pre-dunk: 
Do you have a suede brush? If not, maybe order one from Amazon? A tweezer would also work, but I might try the brush first.
Do you have a suede brush? If not, maybe order one from Amazon? A tweezer would also work, but I might try the brush first.
An eraser might work.
Thank you all for the suggestions!!An eraser might work.
Thank you so much @Lake Effect ! I will search for her post! I got a black Berkeley recently and fell in love, so I'm excited to possibly add a russet Berk. Thank you for your input!
Me too, @Belicious ! I also recently got the Berkeley drawstring in black and absolutely fell in love! It made me look into the russet color one or a BT Lula's Legacy, or both...
Thank you so much for your input!
My pleasure! Please let us know what you think of the Apple Brand Suede Cleaner, thanks!