Dooney rehab thread

Thanks for all your advice. i'll let you know how it turns out.

So, I spent a few hours working on this puppy and feel that it turned out pretty well. Three applications of CPR seems to have removed as much dirt as possible from the corners which was what I wanted, and after a coat of Black Rock, it looks decent enough to use. The stains on the vachetta have been muted, but the handles did not lighten up at all (no surprise there).

I made a stab at reshaping it with warm moist towels stuffed inside which improved it somewhat, but once I put my essentials inside, well, gravity had its way with it. I may or may not try again.

Thanks so much to you both for your help. I'm now working on another one.

A few pics:

Gdstn after side.jpg

Gdstn after zip.jpg

Gdstn after handles.jpg
 
Enjoy your 'rehabbed' handbag. I love to see these bags returned to good condition....
shows how good the underlying original quality was, it's good for the planet,
and they are beautiful classic handbags. And all your hard work was successful!
And you got a great buy.
 
Yeah, it DOES feel good to bring these girls back to life. In fact, during the quarantine, I pulled out all my vintages bags, and like a girl with her dolls, lined them up on the couch. After a few days, I moved them to the guest room for a change of scenery. Even though I'm not using them as much lately, it was fun to see them all together.
 
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I got a bag online, was told it was a samba which is what I wanted, turns out it’s calf. The girl wants me to pay return shipping for her screwing me on this sale and wanting a refund so I’m keeping it. It does have a mild musty odor. Any way to get rid of the smell?
 
Can't help on the rehab. Sorry.
But, Dooney uses lots of names for their collections.... some refer to a type of leather and others to the way the leather might have been processed or treated and other times the name refers to the design elements of the collection.

I only mention this because now Samba is probably a name that Dooney uses for a collection where the leather has been processed to be very soft. The leather itself may be calf leather.
A pebbled leather collection could also be made with calf leather.
And calf leather in itself is probably available in many thicknesses and qualities.
It's all very confusing.

Years ago Dooney had a Samba leather collection that was much more structured than the
Samba leather small satchels that appeared more recently. If we compared the leather on
both these Dooney Sambas I'm guessing they would be somewhat different. The original Samba
collection had oversized and distinctive hardware trim (a large, hanging almost heart shaped lock with the Dooney logo), the leather was not as soft, and was thicker than the small Samba satchels of more recent years.

I'm sorry if I made things more confusing. And since Dooney makes the same style handbag.... the small satchel (zip smiling top, double handle, 'Florentine' style) in many leathers..... it's sometimes hard to know what leather a specific bag is made of. In addition to the production models made for different retailers (department stores, shopping channels, Dooney boutiques) there are also some
sample models that sometimes float around on resale sites. Unless the bag has an official production
model number it's very hard to know what leather it is made from. Dooney sales reps are not always
a good source of info.
 
Oh, I love that shade of blue.

But no, I’ve never dumped one of them. If you do, let us know how it turns out.
Well I did a suede shampoo instead of a full dunk. It doesn't have any shape or wrinkling issues so I used some sneaker cleaner that works on suede and got it wet and scrubbed it. Pretty decent results but the other one I am going to do a more thorough cleaning with a brush, eraser, and suede stone before the shampoo.
This one had some oil stains on it and I missed a spot with the shampoo as it's hard to see where they are once it's wet.

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I just purchased this Dooney and Bourke Dillen (I believe that's the name). I'm wondering if anyone can tell me what I can use to fix the wear on the bottom corners? There's also a few scratches but I can probably live with those. I'm not familiar with DB bags so I'm not sure what kind of leather this bag is made of. The edging on the straps are starting to crack. Is this something I should also address before it gets worse, and if so what is the best product for that? Any information would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

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Well I did a suede shampoo instead of a full dunk. It doesn't have any shape or wrinkling issues so I used some sneaker cleaner that works on suede and got it wet and scrubbed it. Pretty decent results but the other one I am going to do a more thorough cleaning with a brush, eraser, and suede stone before the shampoo.
This one had some oil stains on it and I missed a spot with the shampoo as it's hard to see where they are once it's wet.

View attachment 4793757

View attachment 4793758
Wow, that looks MUCH better! Well done. And I love the colors even more now; brown & blue have always been a favorite because they remind me of bare trees against a winter sky.

Please keep us posted on your second suede rehab. I'm thinking of doing the same thing.
 
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Question for those experienced with Dooney rehab...
what happens if you dink the bag and the interior contained some
kind of backing (cardboard) that gave the bag structure?

Well, I've never had that problem, but after the worst case scenario when the backing dissolves, one can buy a "purse shaper" on Etsy or Amazon. It's basically a sheet of acrylic cut specifically for the size of the purse to keep its shape. In addition, there are "bag organizers" often made of felt which can provide structure along with pockets & slots to help keep your stuff from sliding around or hiding from you. I've found the organizers (Easy, Amazon) very helpful, especially in larger bags. HTH.
 
Well, I've never had that problem, but after the worst case scenario when the backing dissolves, one can buy a "purse shaper" on Etsy or Amazon. It's basically a sheet of acrylic cut specifically for the size of the purse to keep its shape. In addition, there are "bag organizers" often made of felt which can provide structure along with pockets & slots to help keep your stuff from sliding around or hiding from you. I've found the organizers (Easy, Amazon) very helpful, especially in larger bags. HTH.
Thanks. I was curious as to whether anyone had that problem and if the backing disintegrated....
did it make the bag lumpy or smelly, etc.
 
So has anyone here dunked and washed a florentine bag? I have an old school michael kors collection bag that was made in Italy with leather that's just like a florentine. She has been well loved and has some pretty heavy stains from what looks like food spills on the outside and the inside is very dirty.
If someone has had success dunking a florentine or bag with the same type if leather I may go for it.