Brass Smell?

[Barlow]

Hi All

I just got my very first LV, a lovely and well taken care of second hand pouchette. I LOVE everything about it... except it has a metallic smell similar to pennies from the metal. I'm assuming it's the brass. It comes off on hands and other bags and is really starting to bother me...

Any ideas what I can do to reduce/eliminate this without hurting the bag? I love carrying it, but I don't love smelling like change!

Thanks!
Vi

 

[ayla]

Try these threads - http://forum.purseblog.com/louis-vuitton-faqs/removing-smells-from-your-lv-faqs-98820.html

 

[Barlow]

Thanks Ayla, I read through the threads but most talk about cigarette smoke or moth balls and it's not the fabric itself that smells but the brass fixtures...?

Ideas? :wondering

 

[Barlow]

Anyone?

 

[Scott.cs]

Simple.

Purchase a brass cleaner with a creamy consistency, I recommend Weiman's Metal Polish. Use a clean, cotton or flannel cloth and polish all of the hardware. Use a little bit of the polish at a time, as to not make a mess. When you are done using the polish, use a fresh cloth and buff to a high-shine.

The strong smell should be completely eliminated and your hardware will look like new.

P.S. The strong metallic smell is due to the brass oxidizing over time - This is why old (Copper) pennies smell awful as opposed to newly minted pennies.

 

[OCWifey]

Can we revive this thread? I've found nothing on this in the threads

 

[Lilleput]

Help guys!

I have in recent years not been in LV threads much - been stalking Chanel. However, there is one bag I absolutely LOVE in LV I could not replace with any Chanel - that is the speedy band. I have the 25 in DE and waiting on my 30.

I bought my 25 speedy b DE in 2017 and have been very careful when not in use - always kept in its bag, stuffed so it doesn't lose shape, and kept it clean. REcently I noticed awful BRASSY smell. You know that smell with old tarnished coins? THAT - also tends to cause other areas to smell too. Like handles and even onto my other stuff in the bag. The horror!! The hardware itself is bright and not tarnished, but just smell god-awful tarnished brass. The bag looks just like it did when I bought it, it has held up really well as most LV does. I am just soooo disappointed right now, and not looking forward to the 30 now. . I have had 2 speedys in the past, but never had issues with smell. I have a NF, Totally, Eva, pallas and lots of SLGs but this speedy (which happens to be my fave of all the LV) is the one that has issues!

Help! Anyone have similar experience? Suggestions (short of selling it, that is)? THanks guys!!

 

[BULL]

Well, the thing is that metals don't smell. Smell comes from particles emitted from the material, and since they are very stable at room temperature, they don't do that. If they would, the fumes would be toxic, but that needs quite a few hundred degrees to happen.
So what you feel on coins is the dirt and hand oils attached to the metal. So if the bag smells like coins, it is unlikely to be of the hardware. It is logical why the handles smell, because those are the ones being touched the most. It can happen to both the leather and the canvas. So I'd recommend a good babywipe treatment, which can help, especially on the canvas. Should work on the handles too, since the heavily coated chocolate leather on Damier Ebene is less likely to absorb the oils than raw VVN leather. But If the handles still smell after a good wipe, I'd recommend that you ask LV to replace them.
It is a 100% that the smell is not caused by the hardware or anything metal.

 

[Lilleput]

Hey guys!

not too sure how to solve this particular issue. Some of you may have solutions or similar experiences! In any case, Rant ahead...

Anyway, I finally managed to go to my local LV store because of issue with my Speedy. The main issue is that the bag (I bought in 2018) has been chronically smelling like 'tarnished brass". You know how a gold/brass metal coin smells once it oxidizes and turns dark? That's how it smells now. I don't really have any other way to describe it. All my other stuff ends up smelling like tarnished metal too, even my hands does after handling and using the bag - absolute horror! I have reached out to LV about this. I have had it professionally cleaned too, but it would just be good for a few days and the smell comes back. I'm fairly convinced it's the tarnished hardware. Customer service in store was just the pits - coz apparently they couldn't do much about it. THey managed to clean the hardware in store, but that's about it. And of course, the smell just came back after few hours, didn't even last a day.

THe thing is, I have an older - 12-year old Speedy - that is good as new, and does not have "the smell". Could this just be my bag or issue with new ones? Who knows - no one in their repair team seem to know! This frustrates me no end as SA and the after-sales team were so blase about it. THey just advised to clean the bag with soap and water!! WTAF! I have heard of poor quality of bags and issues in recent years, but never thought much about it. Until of course, I experienced it myself. At this stage, it is already with the escalation team (I am waiting for feedback) as I am just not happy with the solution offered.

I have a speedy 30 on order that I am cancelling/ returning. I know LV don't care either way, but no way am I keeping or buying anymore with the lack of good customer care and this absolute horror.

 

[BULL]

I just can repeat myself:
Well, the thing is that metals don't smell. Smell comes from particles emitted from the material, and since they are very stable at room temperature, they don't do that. If they would, the fumes would be toxic, but that needs quite a few hundred degrees to happen.
So what you feel on coins is the dirt and hand oils attached to the metal. So if the bag smells like coins, it is unlikely to be of the hardware. It is logical why the handles smell, because those are the ones being touched the most. It can happen to both the leather and the canvas. So I'd recommend a good babywipe treatment, which can help, especially on the canvas. Should work on the handles too, since the heavily coated chocolate leather on Damier Ebene is less likely to absorb the oils than raw VVN leather. But If the handles still smell after a good wipe, I'd recommend that you ask LV to replace them. They will do it for a fee.
It is a 100% that the smell is not caused by the hardware or anything metal.

ps. clearly that bag is just dirty. What they advised is perfectly reasonable, the canvas can be cleaned with soapy water. That might not be enough though, but we didn't see how it was used, what materials, creams, sweat (and body chemistry) it did contact with, there might be a million reasons how oils got onto it and started to decompose. That is not a manufacturing issue, it is not the magical "quality is declining over the years" thing. Don't get me wrong, I am not blaming you, but this is a very special case that has nothing to do with Vuitton craftsmanship (and they are also trying to help). And again, metals don't smell.

 

[Lilleput]

While I thank you for the effort - I would appreciate if you did not repeat yourself. I got your point - you didn't have to.

however, you're just talking semantics. THe fact of the matter is that the bag smells! Simple as that. It is the metal hardware that seems to be the issue!!! OR possibly what I am smelling is the metallic smell from hand oils coming in contact with the metal hardware. This is evidenced by the smell seemingly to have gone away after the hardware was cleaned in store. I don't know - This is why I went to the store after all. But the bag itself smells tarnished metal. End of.

The bag was professionally cleaned, thank you very much. The smell went away for maybe a week (or less) to have the smell come back again. I hardly use this bag these days as it just annoys me so I doubt it is more dirty that my other more used LV. As it happens, I have another speedy and keepall (which has more hardware btw) that has never this issue despite being 12 and 10 year old respectively. Definitely had seen better days but looks and smells more pristine. Can you blame me for thinking it's the hardware used??

The head office was helpful, don't get me wrong - but not this particular store. I am curious to know - How do you know they were trying to help??!? As far as I'm concerned, I had to raise a fuss for them to even CONSIDER looking into it. THey were very blase - almost flippant attitude. BUT THIS store is actually NOT the greatest, but it is the nearest to me unfortunately.

I will reserve opinion of whether it has something to do with the metal hardware used (and therefore, craftmanship) at this stage.

I just can repeat myself:
Well, the thing is that metals don't smell. Smell comes from particles emitted from the material, and since they are very stable at room temperature, they don't do that. If they would, the fumes would be toxic, but that needs quite a few hundred degrees to happen.
So what you feel on coins is the dirt and hand oils attached to the metal. So if the bag smells like coins, it is unlikely to be of the hardware. It is logical why the handles smell, because those are the ones being touched the most. It can happen to both the leather and the canvas. So I'd recommend a good babywipe treatment, which can help, especially on the canvas. Should work on the handles too, since the heavily coated chocolate leather on Damier Ebene is less likely to absorb the oils than raw VVN leather. But If the handles still smell after a good wipe, I'd recommend that you ask LV to replace them. They will do it for a fee.
It is a 100% that the smell is not caused by the hardware or anything metal.

ps. clearly that bag is just dirty. What they advised is perfectly reasonable, the canvas can be cleaned with soapy water. That might not be enough though, but we didn't see how it was used, what materials, creams, sweat (and body chemistry) it did contact with, there might be a million reasons how oils got onto it and started to decompose. That is not a manufacturing issue, it is not the magical "quality is declining over the years" thing. Don't get me wrong, I am not blaming you, but this is a very special case that has nothing to do with Vuitton craftsmanship (and they are also trying to help). And again, metals don't smell.

 

[cly_forever]

Hey guys!

not too sure how to solve this particular issue. Some of you may have solutions or similar experiences! In any case, Rant ahead...

Anyway, I finally managed to go to my local LV store because of issue with my Speedy. The main issue is that the bag (I bought in 2018) has been chronically smelling like 'tarnished brass". You know how a gold/brass metal coin smells once it oxidizes and turns dark? That's how it smells now. I don't really have any other way to describe it. All my other stuff ends up smelling like tarnished metal too, even my hands does after handling and using the bag - absolute horror! I have reached out to LV about this. I have had it professionally cleaned too, but it would just be good for a few days and the smell comes back. I'm fairly convinced it's the tarnished hardware. Customer service in store was just the pits - coz apparently they couldn't do much about it. THey managed to clean the hardware in store, but that's about it. And of course, the smell just came back after few hours, didn't even last a day.

THe thing is, I have an older - 12-year old Speedy - that is good as new, and does not have "the smell". Could this just be my bag or issue with new ones? Who knows - no one in their repair team seem to know! This frustrates me no end as SA and the after-sales team were so blase about it. THey just advised to clean the bag with soap and water!! WTAF! I have heard of poor quality of bags and issues in recent years, but never thought much about it. Until of course, I experienced it myself. At this stage, it is already with the escalation team (I am waiting for feedback) as I am just not happy with the solution offered.

I have a speedy 30 on order that I am cancelling/ returning. I know LV don't care either way, but no way am I keeping or buying anymore with the lack of good customer care and this absolute horror.

Oh my, I can only imagine the stress of your beloved bag!
I went to one of the boutiques last month to purchase a Speedy B in 25, but my SA actually advised me not to!
She shared with me that the hardware in the Speedy is no longer the same as before because the hardware would tarnish and rust.
Please don't shoot me or my SA for sharing this, but she has been very kind to me, and has never pushed me for sales, considering the pandemic affects the luxury business slightly or more. I have no greater words to comfort you, but I really hope someone in LV would at least provide you with a better solution.

 

[BULL]

You made a thread about this same thing 2 months ago. I was the only one responding then, obviously for a reason. This is not a loose thread or misaligned canvas, this is a very special and weird edge-case almost noone ever experienced here. I tried to be helpful then, but you seem to be here for validation, not for help or opinions. I regret wasting my time on this. To quite a classic: "end of" (saying this on a public forum while asking for help is just plain rude).

 

[BULL]

Oh my, I can only imagine the stress of your beloved bag!
I went to one of the boutiques last month to purchase a Speedy B in 25, but my SA actually advised me not to!
She shared with me that the hardware in the Speedy is no longer the same as before because the hardware would tarnish and rust.
Please don't shoot me or my SA for sharing this, but she has been very kind to me, and has never pushed me for sales, considering the pandemic affects the luxury business slightly or more. I have no greater words to comfort you, but I really hope someone in LV would at least provide you with a better solution.

Yes, they changed the hardware material in the 90's.

 

[Lilleput]

Thank you!

I am pretty convinced it's hardware issue. I have escalated it as this store is just too unhelpful. They even told me they don't replace hardware - like duh, they do replace hardware all the time!

I will know soon enough anyway.

Oh my, I can only imagine the stress of your beloved bag!
I went to one of the boutiques last month to purchase a Speedy B in 25, but my SA actually advised me not to!
She shared with me that the hardware in the Speedy is no longer the same as before because the hardware would tarnish and rust.
Please don't shoot me or my SA for sharing this, but she has been very kind to me, and has never pushed me for sales, considering the pandemic affects the luxury business slightly or more. I have no greater words to comfort you, but I really hope someone in LV would at least provide you with a better solution.