I, personally, would be very hesitant to put my beautiful Coach purse through the "trauma" of the washing machine. Especially with leather involved. I've seen a wristlet were that was regularly done. They got away with it at first, but then the last time they did it not only had the jacquard faded to look like, well, faded gar-bage, but the leather strap bloated up to look like a wrinkled, pale balloon the width of a pinky! It was also twisted beyond usefulness. I just wouldn't do it....you don't know what kind of havoc it will cause with any component of your bag.
If you don't want to go for the Coach cleaner, which is a great product, I have had tremendous success with handwashing. Depending upon the degree of dirt, I've used liquid hand soap & a clean white cloth to an 1/8 of a tablespoon of Tide w/bleach ALTERNATIVE mixed with about 2 cups of warm water and a soft dish brush or toothbrush. I lay the bag out on a towel & cover the leather. It is important to use as little soap as necessary (and then cut that in half again - my early mistakes were using too much soap); and rinse COMPLETELY. Some bags I've had to just DRENCH, until no more soap bubbles. (Bye the way, the stick version of Spray & Wash (now Resolve Max) gets out ink & makeup on all of the Coach interior fabrics to date - some incredibly nasty nasty stains - and every single blackened bottom corner on all fabrics (keep it off the leather!) I've scrubbed Coach sateen, canvas, jacquard, lurex, linen, even a
Gucci Sukey with phenomenal success. The bags looked brand new. And as long as I kept the diluted Tide solution off the leather; wiped the leather down with a damp rag then conditioned it before putting out to air dry, the leather looked new too. It is a lot more work, and having a clean work area with a hand held sprayer at your sink helps a lot. But your bag will never look like a wrinkled pinky-finger noodle this way.
I have to respectfully say "nay" to the washing machine.
