cleaning a Kooba?

I always use "saddle soap," and then when that's dry, I add on a thin layer of "mink oil" or Renaissance Wax (a micro crystalline wax museums use, from England). No actual "mink" oil in there btw. It's never a good idea to just keep putting a leather conditioning product on when there's dirt underneath, and that's why I use the saddle soap first.

 

I have a new ivory Sienna that I clumsily managed to get blue ball-point pen on...the second day I carried it! I quickly got a damp paper towel with a small amount of mild dish soap on it, and rubbed gently until the spot was gone. It took quite a bit of rubbing, but the ink disappeared almost completely, and didn't seem to take any of the ivory color off. If you have a spot in a non-obvious place, it might be worth a try.

 

[FONT=Trebuchet MS SIZE=2]I just received the Kooba Sienna Bag today. However, I found the bag different from what I've seen?!
In the magazine, the bag shines and the leather looks smooth. The bag I got wrinkles and looks a bit old.

I still like it very much, the shape and everything; but wonder if it's normal? How come one of the handles is bent??
Does Kooba did it on purpose to make it look wrinkled and patinated? Should it be considered imperfections?
Will it get better as time goes by?


THANKS ALL!!![/FONT]

 

OK, I have a question. I have the Claudia in Sand, I use it almost every dau. The outside is getting a bit... dirty. How do you clean the leather? It's so light, I am petrified to try leather cleaner on it.

 

I use the Coach conditioner on my lighter Koobas, and it works pretty well. I don't have bag as light as the sand, though!

Coach makes a cleaner also, but the Sales Reps at the Coach store said the conditioner does just as good of a job & saves a step. I used it on a used pink bag I had & it turned out beautifully.

 

Thank you.

 

Ladies ... after purchasing the used mocha Renee with the ball point pen marked up interior zippered pocket, was searching around to find something besides acetone to get it off so I'm ready to work on her when she arrives. Checked a few old threads and found one on a company called Leather Master. They make a "Ink Lifter" stick (looks like a chapstick) that you can use on ink leather stains. Also have something called "Soft Cleaner" in a 8.5 oz. bottle. Well ... I put my white Carla up for auction because I bought a white Devin ... yes, purse slutiness has kicked in again ... but her bottom corner folds were kind of gray from setting her down. Otherwise, she looks new. A lady who has been searching for a white one bought her but I'm an OCD and although I posted close up shots of the corners, couldn't send her with dirty corners. Put some of the Soft Cleaner on a sponge, created a little foam and used it on the corners. Voila! Good as new. So, wanted to pass this along to everyone.

 

Nunnla, thanks so much for the tip, I'm sure it's going to come in very useful for a lot of us. It's wonderful that you take such pride in your bags, even when selling.

I received the mocha Renee from you yesterday - absolutely pristine and extremely well packaged (it really showed how much you baby your bags). I could hardly believe it arrived in 5 days at my desk in Saudi Arabia. You must have packed that baby up and got it out the door faster than anyone could blink! Thank you so much. I will take pics and post a thread soon.

 

Thanks Nunnla! What a great tip. I've been fortunate enough so far to have not had any ink mishaps, but it's good to know that there's a fix out there for it!

 

You're welcome, Mini. I'm glad you like Renee. Please do post pictures and show everyone how gorgeous she is. That really was a quick shipment - surprised me too - makes a difference if the customs people don't want to open and check it out. I acquired her from one of Lexie's auctions, so we're keeping her "in the family" so to speak. Wasn't it uncanny that another one just happened to show up after I sent her to you? For $150, beautiful condition except for ink marks in interior pocket no one but me will see, I couldn't resist. But, hopefully I'll get them out.

 

I searched google & found Leather Master, but cannot find the products you describe. Do you have a link?

 

Sigh....I'll keep it in mind when using it on ALL THE BAGS I DIDN'T WIN!!!! haha just kidding...
Thanks Larke!

 

nunnla, if you get the ink marks out of the interior of the bag please pass along how you did it. I have one I would like to try and get ink stains out of. TIA

 

Will do, shockey. Here's the link to the leather ink remover, but you can access the home page from here where you can find the fabric cleaner and the Soft Cleaner that I used to get the gray smudge marks off the corner folds of the white Carla.
http://www.leatherworldtech.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=LMIK08