Just thought I would add something I find works great on old leather, for the tripod pads, slings, pouches and old holsters etc. After many years of experimenting with other products I find these methods best. First never use saddle soap or similar, it does make any dried out leather soft as butter, even real dried out and cracked leather can be made soft again but it will change the leather color to black! An easy way to get a nice finish on the leather is to use shoe polish. It works well at preserving leather, try to get the polish shade as close to the original as possible, scuffed leather can also be improved with the special shoe polish which has dye in it, such as the Tuscan range of shoe polish, this has a dye in it which will cover the scuffs. Another way to soften leather is to use Vaseline intensive care hand and nail lotion, its in the pink tube, your wife will know it
Its clear and works superbly on old leather, makes it very soft then goes hard again over time so you get the support and stiffness back in the leather over time. Commercial Leather fat products are also good, such as hide food or similar but I perfer the other methods I have listed. These things all work but try them first yourself before you use it on your expensive leather item and see if its right for your restoration or preservation project. I found all of the above methods better than the shop bought specialist products.