Coach Rehab and Rescue Club
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I've tried that with leather dye and it doesn't work, take my word for it. I think leather dyes are either alcohol or oil based so mixing with water = not so good. After reading here about people using wood stain, I decided to use some water based stain and dip some bags. I've since learned that the difference between stain and dye is that stain has larger color particles in it, so the bags looked good but had a little bit of a coated feel afterward. It is probably closer to how they felt new and I haven't conditioned them yet so will see.
Went to Woodcraft and bought some water-based wood dyes to try, but haven't used them yet.
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How cool! The bad thing about any kind of ink is that we have no way of knowing how old the mark is...the older they are, the tougher they seem to be! I've had great success with Soilove lately. Takes ink (and other spots or smudges) out of Coach fabrics beautifully, and often off leather too.
Hello to all of the miracle workers here! I have read all I can about rehabbing Coach bags and learnt a lot from you. I bought one used Coach bag last year to try your methods myself but I only had the courage to try rehabbing it last week. It is a Court bag, if I remember correctly, and it rehabbed beautifully. I still need to polish the metal parts and buy a strap, then it is finished. I can hardly wait to actually use it!
One question, though. It had a mild perfume smell ( actually it smells like the artificial "new car smell" which I hate...) which didn't go away with baking soda or in the freezer. I bought active carbon and put the bag with it into a plastic container. My question is, how long do you keep the bag in the closed container? A day? A week? A month? I don't know if I can open the container and smell the bag yet, since I put it there only yesterday... I am a bit impatient!
Thanks for any help!
One question, though. It had a mild perfume smell ( actually it smells like the artificial "new car smell" which I hate...) which didn't go away with baking soda or in the freezer. I bought active carbon and put the bag with it into a plastic container. My question is, how long do you keep the bag in the closed container? A day? A week? A month? I don't know if I can open the container and smell the bag yet, since I put it there only yesterday... I am a bit impatient!
Thanks for any help!
I wonder if rinsing after would help with coated feel?
Ok so heres another idea ...That does not involve mixing the dye with water...So I wonder if you bought a quart or larger of leather dye and put it in a container you could use the dipping method...weigh down the bags so they are immersed. take the bag out and then put a lid on the container and reuse the dye. There's a guy at An online leatherworker supply shop that answers questions. I may ask him this if You girls don't know
Also I have some Edgekote ...it seems thin to me. I'm trying to repair a strap and it never seems to build up to be as thick as what is already on there. Have you guys found that different brands work differently? And are there different brands of this edge coatings? I read somewhere that plastic dip is good for edges. It's that stuff that they sell at Home Depot that people will color code their tools with . I may try that but I wanted to know if you guys have tried different kinds of edge coatings and what you have found to be the best.
Thanks hoping for lots of wisdom!!!!!
I think a week or more. It depends on the smell. I've had some perfume odors hang around a long time. Sometimes placing it outside in the open air works wonders too. I got this stuff at Big Lots called zero odor that is pretty good at removing odors too but you have to spray it on, and I'm always afraid it will spot - it hasn't yet though.
Thanks, whateve. So I really need to be a bit more patient! Sigh... The smell was the first thing I tried to remove when I got the bag, so it has been sitting outside for a longtime. The winter was pretty cold here, so it practically froze in my balcony 
Since then, I washed and soaked the bag and let it dry and the odour was still there. I wonder if the previous owner sprayed the bag with new car smell spray to cover some worse odour? Who knows, but it is very persistent and the active carbon is my last hope. I can use the bag with the smell since it is not bad, it is just... too much and belongs to a car!
Since then, I washed and soaked the bag and let it dry and the odour was still there. I wonder if the previous owner sprayed the bag with new car smell spray to cover some worse odour? Who knows, but it is very persistent and the active carbon is my last hope. I can use the bag with the smell since it is not bad, it is just... too much and belongs to a car!
I know that at least one of you adds Febreeze to a bath to help with odors, but that's with the unlined vintage bags. I've had a couple of newer lined bags with perfume that has gone through the liner and into the leather. I first pull out the liner and hold it over the sink and wash it with dawn and a stain remover. Rinse and repeat if necessary. Blot liner with a towel and allow to dry outside of the bag before stuffing it back in.
THEN, the problem is the scent in the leather. So I took a cue from the Febreeze in the bath idea.....I added Febreeze to leather conditioner and use it on the leather in the area of the smell and it helps remove or at least fade the smell. I apply it thinly and rub into the leather well, let it sit for a day then repeat if necessary.
Sorry if this idea has already been suggested.
THEN, the problem is the scent in the leather. So I took a cue from the Febreeze in the bath idea.....I added Febreeze to leather conditioner and use it on the leather in the area of the smell and it helps remove or at least fade the smell. I apply it thinly and rub into the leather well, let it sit for a day then repeat if necessary.
Sorry if this idea has already been suggested.
That sounds like a great idea! I'm going to try that next time I have a smelly bag.
I think that some perfume smells are harder to remove than smoke. I had a couple of accessories that I gave up on. They smelled like aftershave. I got the smell to fade some but it never went away completely.Thanks, whateve. So I really need to be a bit more patient! Sigh... The smell was the first thing I tried to remove when I got the bag, so it has been sitting outside for a longtime. The winter was pretty cold here, so it practically froze in my balcony
Since then, I washed and soaked the bag and let it dry and the odour was still there. I wonder if the previous owner sprayed the bag with new car smell spray to cover some worse odour? Who knows, but it is very persistent and the active carbon is my last hope. I can use the bag with the smell since it is not bad, it is just... too much and belongs to a car!
I just wanted to share my newly-acquired knowledge about caring for exotic bags with my fellow Coach rehabbers, in case the information is useful to anyone.
I won a Parker Exotics Small Flap Bag 13417 on a charity auction site. It isn't vintage because it was released in 2009, it is secondhand but new to me. I had to wait a week to receive the bag from the auction house, so I took advantage of the time to research the care, cleaning, and storage of exotic skin bags.
FYI, many "snakeskin" and "croc" and "ostrich" bags are not genuine exotic bags. Most Coach snake, croc, and ostrich bags and are actually embossed, leather print bags - and that is true of many other exotic designer bags, too. But Coach has made some genuine exotics and the creed legend will tell you what the bag is made from.
If your bag is made of an authentic exotic skin then it will need special care and handling. The Parker bag that I won is genuine Karung snakeskin from SE Asia and the bag was made in Italy.
I spent a lot of time on the Bottega Veneta, CL, Channel, and Hermes forums to learn about caring for exotic bags. The most popular product recommendation from many experts, including Docride on Hermes, was to use DYO Reptile Conditioner on your exotic bags.
I had a couple of ebay bucks buring a hole in my pocket so I bought a 4 oz bottle of DYO. It acturally arrived sooner than the bag, but I guess that was a good thing!
When I got the bag was in very good condition but it felt kind of dry and it looked a bit dull. Happily none of the scales had lifted or started peeling. It seems that smaller-scaled Karung snakeskin is much sturdier than the more popular Python that has larger scales and has a tendency to lift and peel.
My research taught me that there are a few things that are very bad for exotic bags - heat, drying out, dust, waterspots, and brushing the scales the wrong way! (Snakes hate that, always be sure to brush your snake in the right direction!)
Beside feeling a bit dry and rough, the only problem with my new bag was that there were 2 dark lines on the top of the bag where the hardware rings had rested against the bag in storage.
It didn't look dusty but I took a new soft toothbrush right out of the package and used it to brush down, alway in the right direction. Then I used a soft, clean dry cloth (an old t-shirt) to rub in small amounts of DYO, immediately wiping off the excess with the cloth. After it dried I used a clean soft cloth to burnish the surface of the bag.
I am happy to report that DYO immediately removed the dark lines caused by the hardware rings, and it made the entire bag look and feel soft and shiny.
Right now the bag is securely stored in a dustbag (away from the heat, dust, and water - and absolutely no one is brushing it the wrong way!) And I have the metal rings and strap wrapped in tissue to protect the snakeskin leather. When I have time I may coat the hardware rings with Diamond Glaze to prevent them from discoloring the snakeskin leather again.
See the pics below for pics of my new Parker Karung Snakeskin bag!
http://forum.purseblog.com/coach/my-most-exotic-expensive-coach-bag-reveal-modeling-827804.html
I won a Parker Exotics Small Flap Bag 13417 on a charity auction site. It isn't vintage because it was released in 2009, it is secondhand but new to me. I had to wait a week to receive the bag from the auction house, so I took advantage of the time to research the care, cleaning, and storage of exotic skin bags.
FYI, many "snakeskin" and "croc" and "ostrich" bags are not genuine exotic bags. Most Coach snake, croc, and ostrich bags and are actually embossed, leather print bags - and that is true of many other exotic designer bags, too. But Coach has made some genuine exotics and the creed legend will tell you what the bag is made from.
If your bag is made of an authentic exotic skin then it will need special care and handling. The Parker bag that I won is genuine Karung snakeskin from SE Asia and the bag was made in Italy.
I spent a lot of time on the Bottega Veneta, CL, Channel, and Hermes forums to learn about caring for exotic bags. The most popular product recommendation from many experts, including Docride on Hermes, was to use DYO Reptile Conditioner on your exotic bags.
I had a couple of ebay bucks buring a hole in my pocket so I bought a 4 oz bottle of DYO. It acturally arrived sooner than the bag, but I guess that was a good thing!
When I got the bag was in very good condition but it felt kind of dry and it looked a bit dull. Happily none of the scales had lifted or started peeling. It seems that smaller-scaled Karung snakeskin is much sturdier than the more popular Python that has larger scales and has a tendency to lift and peel.
My research taught me that there are a few things that are very bad for exotic bags - heat, drying out, dust, waterspots, and brushing the scales the wrong way! (Snakes hate that, always be sure to brush your snake in the right direction!)
Beside feeling a bit dry and rough, the only problem with my new bag was that there were 2 dark lines on the top of the bag where the hardware rings had rested against the bag in storage.
It didn't look dusty but I took a new soft toothbrush right out of the package and used it to brush down, alway in the right direction. Then I used a soft, clean dry cloth (an old t-shirt) to rub in small amounts of DYO, immediately wiping off the excess with the cloth. After it dried I used a clean soft cloth to burnish the surface of the bag.
I am happy to report that DYO immediately removed the dark lines caused by the hardware rings, and it made the entire bag look and feel soft and shiny.
Right now the bag is securely stored in a dustbag (away from the heat, dust, and water - and absolutely no one is brushing it the wrong way!) And I have the metal rings and strap wrapped in tissue to protect the snakeskin leather. When I have time I may coat the hardware rings with Diamond Glaze to prevent them from discoloring the snakeskin leather again.
See the pics below for pics of my new Parker Karung Snakeskin bag!
http://forum.purseblog.com/coach/my-most-exotic-expensive-coach-bag-reveal-modeling-827804.html
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The amount of success depends on the perfume of course. Just as with the vintage bags, the stronger the perfume, the harder it is to get rid of.
I forgot to add that after cleaning and removing the perfume from the liner, I crumple up newspaper and put it in the purse to absorb whatever scent tries to re-enter the inside.....change it daily until you've got the leather as 'unsmelly' as you're gonna get it. I then store the bag with crumpled newspaper to keep absorbing odor.
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