There are a number of items available that work on different types of leather. I learned from Ivan at IM Leathers in Hamilton to use "Lemon Oil" on my coloured sport riding leathers as the colour needs to be preserved. Mink oil and the like will only build up on the surface and eventually break down the colour treatment. All leather starts life as light brown. The colouring is what must be protected. If you're going to clean the leather's surface, coat the leather in lemon oil to loosen bugs etc, then either use a very weak soap and water in a damp sponge to remove the dirt. Attacking dirt etc with harsh soaps like Spray 9 can remove colours pretty quick. You can also buy vinyl paint used for re-colouring shoes which can restore the colours of striping. Before this, I used spray paint a few times back in the 80's with suprisingly good results. If also have a few containers of "Leather Wipes" from Wal-Mart for a quick wipe of leathers (and my shoes at work sometimes!) for a touch up. I have a friend who also uses a Vitamin E enriched hand cream similar to what the guy above mentioned. Generally, Mink oil and Dubbin are used on more utility type items like baseball gloves and goalie pads, leather mittens etc. These tend to cause a darkening of natural skins.
