Crunchy filling in vintage Chanel

[nicole0612]

Hi, I searched the forum and the internet in general and couldn't find anything on this topic. I purchased a super cute vintage lambskin mini bag and amazingly the lambskin is still puffy...looking...but when I feel it, it feels crunchy underneath, like a sparse loofa sponge, and I'm guessing that if I press on it quite hard this crunchy filling will collapse. I am not upset about this, since it is super vintage 0 series, but I am really curious what this crunchy stuff is.
Does anyone have any knowledge about this?
I keep getting grossed out thinking it is "animal" in nature and decomposing, but then I remember that it is probably cotton or something.
What are chanel bags stuffed with anyway?

 

[prettyinprada]

I have a vintage as well that I just received as a gift. It also has the same crunchy feeling in the quilts. I don't know what it could be but my husband mentioned that it could be water damage on whatever it was filled with. The crunchy filling reminds me of styrofoam. I hope others can chime in and help us figure out what's going on and if it can be fixed.

 

[Sparkletastic]

I think I read something about this on anothet thread. If I recall correctly, the person called Gerry at Leather Surgeons who knew exactly what the problem was. I can't recall if it was fixable. HTH

 

[Lola24]

There is a type of foam material under the leather to make the quilting puffy, I would imagine the foam can and will break down over the years and that's possibly/probably what you are feeling.

 

[nicole0612]

Thank you! Very interesting/helpful.