OK, so I just bought two new bags at the LV store yesterday and they both have vachetta trim. Before buying these, I did a lot of research regarding whether or not to treat the leather in any way and, if so, what the best treatment would be. I’ve settled on using the Patina Champ method for my Mono Speedy 30 and using Apple Garde on my DA Neverfull MM. I know this is a question that many new LV owners struggle with, so I thought I’d document my experience with both methods here to help people make this decision in the future.
I know many of you advocate leaving the bag alone and allowing the patina to develop naturally, water spots and all. Please know that I 100% respect that choice and I don’t fault you for doing that at all! I considered taking that approach myself, but after all the research I’ve done and the countless threads I’ve read here on tPF, I feel that I’ll be happier going this route. Again, that’s just my personal choice and YMMV! But I thought it might be useful to others in the future if I were to document these two methods. So here we go!
I’ll start with some pics of the brand new, untreated bags. So these are basically the “before” pictures. FWIW, both were made in the USA and both were purchased in-store yesterday at the Towson, MD store. The date code on the Speedy is SD1159 and the date code on the NF is SD1189 on both the bag itself and the Pochette. So both bags were made in San Dimas, CA in 2019. The Speedy was made in early April and the NF was made in early May.
The pic above shows the handles of each bag close up so you can see the color difference that we’re starting with. The NF handles are a little darker than the Speedy handles to begin with, although it’s barely noticeable in person.
This pic shows a zoomed-out view of both bags, and the color difference in the handles is barely noticeable here. This is a better representation of what it really looks like.
I know many of you advocate leaving the bag alone and allowing the patina to develop naturally, water spots and all. Please know that I 100% respect that choice and I don’t fault you for doing that at all! I considered taking that approach myself, but after all the research I’ve done and the countless threads I’ve read here on tPF, I feel that I’ll be happier going this route. Again, that’s just my personal choice and YMMV! But I thought it might be useful to others in the future if I were to document these two methods. So here we go!
I’ll start with some pics of the brand new, untreated bags. So these are basically the “before” pictures. FWIW, both were made in the USA and both were purchased in-store yesterday at the Towson, MD store. The date code on the Speedy is SD1159 and the date code on the NF is SD1189 on both the bag itself and the Pochette. So both bags were made in San Dimas, CA in 2019. The Speedy was made in early April and the NF was made in early May.
The pic above shows the handles of each bag close up so you can see the color difference that we’re starting with. The NF handles are a little darker than the Speedy handles to begin with, although it’s barely noticeable in person.
This pic shows a zoomed-out view of both bags, and the color difference in the handles is barely noticeable here. This is a better representation of what it really looks like.
My Speedy is the 25.
