And while we on the subject of leather is there much of a market for leather repairs/restoration? Im thinking of doing LTT course sometime early next year.
Much of a market? Debatable because you would have to advertise quite a lot and quite heavily to make it a profession all of it's own. As an add on it helps supplement the income particulary when you get people sending handbags through the post to you, which you can do at your leisure between other jobs.
Most of the leather jobs coming my way are beyond cleaning, but does a repair/restoration job normally go beyond what people are prepared to pay?
I've had some enquiries that are even beyond this. These are jobs that you would need to go on a re-upholstery course for. Doing a repair to a torn piece of leather is one thing, replacing a panel when the whole sofa is sewn together is another.
As for prepared to pay, well we're back to the initial cost thing again. I've been to see some sofas that cost £350 from World of Leather, on closer inspection it wasn't leather but plastic. Repairs can still be done but when you say that'll be £100 to repair a plastic sofa that will split again in 6 months or less quess what the reply is? On the other hand I've twice this year charged £150 to sort out handbags.
But remember you need patience, attention to detail and an ability to say "stop that's as good as it's going to get."