If you’re reading this, chances are you’re considering leather furniture repair as an additional source of income – whether it be in the form of a new business or an add-on service for an existing business.
From vast experience, I can confidently say that if you’re looking for a hands-on trade with very low startup costs, high profit margins and a flexible schedule, leather repair is a fantastic choice.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through exactly how to start a leather repair business and how our Leather Repair Training Courses give you everything you need to launch with confidence.
Let’s get started!
Step 1: Book a training course
An effective training course equips you with three things:
- Hands-on repair skills: cleaning, prepping, recolouring and all types of repairs.
- Product knowledge: what products and pigments to use on different leather types, along with colour mixing.
- Confidence: real-world experience, not just classroom theory.
At The Leather Academy, you get all of this in a live, in-person setting, with real furniture and not just demo swatches.
Step 2: Choose the right products
Once you’ve completed training, you’ll need a leather repair starter kit with:
- Cleaning chemicals
- Prep products
- Pigments & finishers
- Fillers, spatulas, swabs, cloths, spray guns, etc.
All Leather Academy students get a discounted starter pack of our pigments and chemicals so you don’t waste money testing out inferior quality products .
In addition to this, when you use Leather Academy products in your business, you can benefit from our mentorship and support system, providing you with live help and advice on your leather repair jobs.
Step 3: Find your first jobs
The advantage of starting a leather repair business is that you can hit the ground running after completing training and purchasing your products.
All jobs are carried out in the homes of customers, meaning you don’t need premises or even a van.
Get started by:
- Offering mobile leather repair to car dealerships, valeting companies, or private customers.
- Having your own website targeting leather repair services in your local areas.
- Promoting leather furniture and car seat restoration services via local Facebook groups and social media platforms.
- Partnering with cleaners, upholsterers, carpet cleaning companies and landlords.
Many of our students land paid jobs within days of finishing our course.
A small scuff repair can be £120+.
A full sofa recolour? £400–£1500+.
All you need is the confidence gained from comprehensive training, a simple marketing plan, a strong support system, and a willingness to want to increase your income.
We help you get there.
Step 4: Market your services
In the above screenshot displaying the Google rankings for leather repair in an area of South Wales, you can see how our own leather repair business, Classic Leather Care, benefits from a simple but effective marketing plan.
Indeed, you don’t need an expensive marketing agency to create a successful leather restoration business.
At The Leather Academy, we can help you:
- Build your website, location/service pages, Google Business Profile and online profiles.
- Understand how to price jobs.
- Use before/after photos and testimonials to sell your work.
- Upsell additional services.
- Use your “Leather Academy Certified” badge on your website and social media platforms as proof you’re professionally trained.
- Speak to the right people – landlords, cleaners, valeters, upholsterers and car dealers.
Step 5: Operate with confidence
“Being able to send photos of my first job made the world of difference to my confidence”
That’s what one of our students told me recently.
One of the key things we do differently at the Leather Academy is offer a membership support system upon completion of your course.
This means we support you every step of the way in your leather repair business journey.
No worrying about forgetting any step of the process or worrying about mixing the right colours. Simply send us photos of your job or connect live via video link and we’ll help you tackle any issue that arises.
Clean, repair and recolour with complete confidence that we’ve got your back.
Ready to get started?
We run bespoke leather repair training courses including 2-day, 3-day, and a full 4-day business builder.
You’ll leave with:
Your first real repairs under your belt.
Hands-on experience on real live jobs.
The tool and products needed to get started.
Business setup and marketing help.
If you’ve been looking for a trade that’s:
- Practical and flexible.
- In high demand.
- Low cost to start.
- And actually pays well…
