to spa, or not to spa: that is the question

[golconda]

After reading the tragic thread of the Kelly Mou that went to the spa, I thought I would again share my thoughts on the spa.
I know many would not touch their bag, but I would not send a bag to the spa for anything short of broken hardware.
Docride has great advice if you care to read her threads.
I have been polishing, refinishing, sewing, all my life. I am a retired dentist and feel I can do restoration as well as anyone. I have even repaired broken stitches.
Creme Saphir makes great products. I have heard that the Hermes spa uses them. If you use a bit of their color on the corners it will not render your bag untouchable by Hermes in the future.
Hermes has gotten so big since I started collecting that I really do not trust them anymore.....as with this mess with the Kelly Mou.
Also at 72, I am not willing to wait forever for someone to clean and polish a bag that I could do an adequate job with myself.
I know many would disagree, but think twice before your send you bag off into what may be the unknown.

 

[Ulf]

I went to tailoring school and do a lot of stuff myself. The only thing I won't do is the edge dressing, but I imagine this too would be easy with a burnishing tool.

 

[doni]

I truly admire the skill of people who can restore a bag, whether it is their job or not, and I am sure it is also a fun and fulfilling thing to do. For me, I like taking good care of things in terms of maintenance, but I don't have the skill or the time to take up such bag projects. I love sending an old bag to the spa and getting it back looking refreshed and beautiful and knowing that it is being taken care in the house where it was born. To me the lifelong services is part of Hermes' allure and I trust Hermes to treat my bags well, which doesn't mean I am certain they would never do a mistake, but I choose to trust them. If I didn't, I wonder I would be prepared to pay the price of their goods...

That said, the only bags I have bought pre-loved and sent to spa are very (as in VERY) vintage more unique bags that raise very little concern regarding authenticity. I have only ever both a current model preloved and that was from an acquaintance and so I was 100% sure of the provenance. So I guess it helps I haven't had that sort of worries. And I would not have any worries sending to spa items that I have bought in store.

 

[Hermes Nuttynut]

After reading the tragic thread of the Kelly Mou that went to the spa, I thought I would again share my thoughts on the spa.
I know many would not touch their bag, but I would not send a bag to the spa for anything short of broken hardware.
Docride has great advice if you care to read her threads.
I have been polishing, refinishing, sewing, all my life. I am a retired dentist and feel I can do restoration as well as anyone. I have even repaired broken stitches.
Creme Saphir makes great products. I have heard that the Hermes spa uses them. If you use a bit of their color on the corners it will not render your bag untouchable by Hermes in the future.
Hermes has gotten so big since I started collecting that I really do not trust them anymore.....as with this mess with the Kelly Mou.
Also at 72, I am not willing to wait forever for someone to clean and polish a bag that I could do an adequate job with myself.
I know many would disagree, but think twice before your send you bag off into what may be the unknown.

Good post!! I would never send a bag to spa either. I’m very big on doing things myself, and it’s nice to know I’m not the only one. It would be too stressful for me to worry about never getting the bag back.

 

[periogirl28]

I truly admire the skill of people who can restore a bag, whether it is their job or not, and I am sure it is also a fun and fulfilling thing to do. For me, I like taking good care of things in terms of maintenance, but I don't have the skill or the time to take up such bag projects. I love sending an old bag to the spa and getting it back looking refreshed and beautiful and knowing that it is being taken care in the house where it was born. To me the lifelong services is part of Hermes' allure and I trust Hermes to treat my bags well, which doesn't mean I am certain they would never do a mistake, but I choose to trust them. If I didn't, I wonder I would be prepared to pay the price of their goods...

That said, the only bags I have bought pre-loved and sent to spa are very (as in VERY) vintage more unique bags that raise very little concern regarding authenticity. I have only ever both a current model preloved and that was from an acquaintance and so I was 100% sure of the provenance. So I guess it helps I haven't had that sort of worries. And I would not have any worries sending to spa items that I have bought in store.

You have written everything exactly for me, every word. I am also a dentist but I would personally rather leave bag restoration to the people who made the bags. Every vintage bag I have has been sent in in turn and I have not had problems so far.

 

[ladysarah]

I know the tale of the authenticated Kelly that was rejected in Paris, shook the TPF world from its core, but that's not the norm. I think I am fine to carry out a little routine bag moisturising but for anything more involved hermes is best. That's what they are there for. If still reluctant there is also our very own Doc who can do magic with vintage.

 

[Gigllee]

Great thread. If I bought anything preloved, I won’t risk losing it by sending it to the SpA. Only purchases from the store should be sent to the spa cos your paper trail is guaranteed to prevent a loss. it will be Hermes HQ duking it out with whatever store from which you made your purchase . Now that would be quite a show.

 

[showgratitude]

I can't do my own repair and restoration so my purses will go to the spa if needed. I bought it from the store so I never once thought that they will dispute its authenticity. Anyway, if you don't like to send it to the spa, that's your own choice.....and that is okay too.

 

[milotic55]

There is so so so many bags spa places u can bring your bag to it doesnt have to be hermes as well

 

[chicinthecity777]

I would never let anybody else other than Hermes work on my bags. Although I only bought from H boutiques so I guess that's a big reassurance. And my store has so far never charged me for limited small works they have done for my bags, e.g. not changing hardware or anything like that. I do look after my bags, not babying but careful. To each their own.

 

[PJW5813]

There is a certain kudos to sending your Hermes bag to spa and it is always the preferred option.
It is possibly even more so if you bought pre-loved, but there are other specialist luxury bag restorers
that can be used if you have any concerns about the authenticity of your bag.
If you risk the non Hermes route, your bag will probably be rejected (but not confiscated) by Hermes in the future if you need a repair or replacement of hardware or handle.

 

[ladysarah]

There is a certain kudos to sending your Hermes bag to spa and it is always the preferred option.
It is possibly even more so if you bought pre-loved, but there are other specialist luxury bag restorers
that can be used if you have any concerns about the authenticity of your bag.
If you risk the non Hermes route, your bag will probably be rejected (but not confiscated) by Hermes in the future if you need a repair or replacement of hardware or handle.

If you need a handle replacement it's a disaster, if Hermes won't do it as no one else can. Luckily hermes handles are very well made. - they last for decades! It's best to send the bag to hermes for major things, docride is also brilliant and would vouch for her skills.

 

[cherrycola]

I sent two chevre wallets to the spa and they came back actually in worse shape than when they left. The leather had been worn thin in spots where there are been marks cleaned off, and the colour was uneven from the cleaning.

I asked the store manager if she could help me understand the process that had resulted in this outcome. And she said, candidly, the people doing the cleaning are French and it's impossible to get a straight explanation from them (!!)

After that experience I certainly won't be sending any of my bags to the spa.

 

[duna]

Just to add my experience with H spa, I have used it several times in the past 20 years but I sent a Box and a Barenia bag a few months ago and after keeping them for 3 months (no, they didn't go to Paris!) they came back exactly as I left them!

Although I'm nowhere near as clever as some above ladies in restoring bags, I do treat them myself: Box with Saphir Restorateur or Nappa, and Barenia with Hermès Baume. So from now on, unless I have real damage on a bag, I won't be sending them into spa anymore.

Just an anecdote from about 10 years ago, I sent a Vache Naturelle Birkin to the spa (Paris) as I was scared to treat it myself. After at least 3 months my SM called me saying that my bag had come back but it was ruined (Imagine Paris sending a ruined bag back as if everything was OK....) My SM , now retired unfortunately, told them straight out that they had ruined the bag so what would they do about it? Paris admitted the damage and made me a brand new VN bag in 4 months! By the way I never saw the damaged bag.

 

[allanrvj]

Just to add my experience with H spa, I have used it several times in the past 20 years but I sent a Box and a Barenia bag a few months ago and after keeping them for 3 months (no, they didn't go to Paris!) they came back exactly as I left them!

may I ask what their reason was for not sending the bags to Paris?