SofTex seats stained by jeans

Howdy,

Over the summer i purchased a 2013 Prius v with the Softex leather. As we move into the colder months, i've been utilizing the seat warmers more and more. Then, one day, to my horror, the light tan seats showed tremendous staining from blue jeans (mind you that they have been washed probably 20 times, and are a year or so old).

Googling, i found a thread on another forum that mentioned a solution. Here's the content since I can't post links:

"Woolite and water at a 6(water) to 1(Woolite) will do the job. A soft bristled brush may be needed. The seats are leather with a vinyl coating so a product like Aerospace 303 will keep them supple once cleaned without being greasy/shiny. I always use distilled water due to the super hard mineral content of the water where I live but it's not a must. Using high dollar leather products on "treated" leather (vinyl encapsulated) is pointless. On Euro leather (no vinyl) then quality leather products are called for.
The New 2017 Corolla iM" (Rav4 forum post from 2010)

I haven't tried the woolite yet to get the stains off. The first time the staining occured, I used leather cleaner/conditioner all-in-one to remove the staining, though some was still visible. I plan to use woolite next to try to get new staining out.

Now, the stains have returned AGAIN and are equally as marking. Reminder, i have 3 pair of jeans that are at least a year old, so it's not something that should be happening. Regardless, I've never seen a leather seat stain from jeans, ever, in any other car.

The car is three years old, and had zero signs of staining on the seats. Why now are the seats staining? Is there some sort of repellent that has worn off finally?

Can anyone else chime in on a solution, or experience with this problem. I can't imagine having to deal with this on a regular basis. The stains are saddening and make my new (to me) car seem beat-up.

Thanks in advance!

 

The stains on my seats are not simply wiping away. It's taking some scrubbing effort with a cloth and then there are still some residual stains left. Do you have seat heaters? I'm guessing the heaters are allowing the softex to open up a bit and absorb the dye.

How often do you have to clean your seats? Have you found a way to prevent the stains (aside from taking my pants off)?

why would leather cleaner/treatment be the worst thing i could do? If they seats are NOT leather with a vinyl coating, then I'd assume you're telling me that SofTex is plain old leather. To me leather would benefit from leather cleaner/treatment. Seemed to work fine before in my cherokee, and before in my Tahoe.

Thanks for the help everyone! Keep the tips coming

 

Thanks for the google. I have seen that page before and have also seen conflicting opinions on this site and others.

So what's causing the stains then? Mike, do you have seat heaters? it seems to me that the seat heaters are the only variable here that might be the issue. warming the material is allowing it to absorb dye, i suspect. If that's the case, Toyota has severely effed up with their testing of this material. On the flip side, I bought this car at the end of August, and in Richmond, VA it was still VERY hot some days meaning the material was very warm. I was wearing jeans to work, so it should have stained the seats basically from day one.

 

Thanks for the input. Contrary to my post number, I consider myself a seasoned forum user and could not find on this site information about staining and preventative maintenance for SofTex. If you could, please provide links to some threads that have already provided answers to this issue. Thanks in advance!

From what you're telling me, my manual should include a section that details the care and maintenance of the SofTex. Part of the information will tell me that the greasy substance in the leather treatment will react with denim and result in staining. Is that correct? I am at work and will verify when i'm able to get to my manual at home.

It's also important to note that the stains occurred before I treated the seats, mistakenly, with leather conditioner/cleaner. So we're still not at the root cause for the staining.

Thanks for the input, peoples.

Edited to add the last few sentences.

 

well, it's a bummer that this is a widespread issue.

I guess it's time to drive naked!

Roger that. Perhaps the heaters are aiding in the staining in my case.

Thanks for your help in getting to the cause! :]