Tips On Taking Care Of Your Bags

I love suede bags and own quite a number of them. Like this Pink Loewe Amazone. The soft texture is very enticing but they are just extremely troublesome to maintain.

While I’ve had the luxury of not having the mildew problem on my bags despite Singapore’s hot humid weather so far (keeping my fingers crossed that it’ll stay that way), there are just those times when you find stains on your bags. From owning different bags.. these are some things I realized which I’ll share here to help gals decide on their next purchase.

With Patent bags stains can usually be rubbed off but when you get an abrasive scratch or a color transfer… it can be deadly to the bag. If the scratch is very mild you can try wiping it off with medicated oil (eg, axe brand oil) I kid you not! I works! But best you don’t store them together with other bags.

With leather, the best thing you can do is apply a coat of Apple Guarde Leather Care on the surface to protect it before anything happen. Do a patch test before spraying on the whole bag and make sure the test is done on somewhere where it’s not noticeable like on the underside of the bag. It will sorta defeat the purpose of a patch test if you spray it somewhere prominent right? You can clean the bags with a damp cloth every serveral use and once every half a year (or more often if it’s been heavily utilized) you should condition the bag with a leather conditioner so that it’ll be soft and will not crack as quickly. In general, caviar leather is more hardy then lambskin and will not get scratches as easily.

With suede bags it gets trickier. A good suede cleaner and brush is preferred. Every time the bag is used you should brush the surface before storing so that dirt and dust will not accumulate and adhere to the bag. In scenarios of small isolated dust or dirt stands… I’ve tried successfully rubbing them away with the normal eraser. While this is very useful… don’t do it too often or the suede will lose it’s luster and color.

In general, it’s always best to send them to professional to clean… it’s expensive but it’s better than ruining your expensive purchase. Le Shine has had pretty good service so far though they have been unable to remove my pen ink off my white Chanel lambskin. A friend of mine told me that her company is developing an eraser for leather. And though it won’t be launched till next year and most likely only in Europe… she’ll be able to get me some to try. I can’t wait to get my hands on them! Meanwhile remember to store your bags with some stuffing in them to keep the shape and air them whenever you can!

As for my outfit post… here you go! I love the eyelet details on this very simple white cotton dress from F21.