Care 101: How to protect and care for your leather bags?
Keep your leather bags beautiful and as good as new with these easy steps.
Leather bags are beautiful and gorgeous, but they can get extremely hard to care for. You can't get them wet, for one. There are a lot of other things you can't do, but what are you going to do when your leather bag is inevitably going to be affected by the elements whenever you carry them - considering it rains a fair bit here?
The most common stains to remove from handbags are finger marks, but simple regular treatments will stop them from building up into unsightly marks. The kind of cleaning treatment you should use depends as always on the type of leather the bag is made from, so cast those worries aside and keep our guide by your side.
Grain leather
With a soft brush, or a slightly damp cloth, wipe or brush the bag gently. The handbag should be wiped with a cloth dampened with white spirit to thoroughly cleanse the leather surface from old and discoloured waxes once or twice a year. Then give it a very light treatment with a proprietary polish, and finally wipe it down with a soft clean cloth.
Patent leather bags
Clean with a damp cloth, plus a little neutral detergent if needed. Pigskin leathers should be treated with a silicone preparation to protect them. Small stains on all grain leathers can frequently be removed by gentle rubbing with a soft India rubber eraser.
Suede leather
With a soft suede brush or a plastic foam block, brush and rub it gently. Minor stains and marks may be removed with a hard rubber eraser, or by touching up the surface with a fine emery paper. The leather should retain its colour and appearance if it is regularly treated with a fluorocarbon aerosol spray product.
This way the leather would be protected from water, grease and dust. There is a wide range of suede cleaning and colouring products on the market, and these will give excellent results - provided that the product manufacturers' recommendations are strictly observed.
With these tips in mind, you can definitely keep your exquisite leather bags prim and perfect for many more years to come.
Bernice Ng
Featured Image: Getty Images
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