Many of you know about the problem with the Galliera bags and the brass rings which over time leave black marks on the vachetta. This thread details the issue pretty well:
http://forum.purseblog.com/louis-vu...-wearing-really-badly-anyone-else-563481.html
First off, I'm a guy and I bought the Galliera GM for my GF about a year ago, and soon after she started noticing the black marks. Being the type of person who likes to take care of her bag, this bothered her tremendously and she resorted to using an eraser every day to clean off the black marks. I mean, every day, multiple times a day. Eventually, however, this started discoloring the vachetta itself (turning it a lighter color), and that's when I researched the issue and found the thread above.
Long story short, we brought it in, me armed with a printout of the whole thread to show this was a common issue, and had them replace the rings AND the leather trim. We got the bag back 6 weeks later, she was ultra excited, but guess what...the problem soon resurfaced. Every day when she used her white eraser it would remove black dust from under the rings. It was a huge disappointment!
That's when I had an idea.
I use this product called Invisible Shield to protect my iPhone. It is a super resilient material that's intended to prevent scratches to delicate surfaces like the iPhone screen. Once applied, it stays tight and is very hard to notice, but it can be peeled off very easily and leaves behind no residue.
Since I had some leftover pieces I decided to cut them into strips and basically line the inside part of the rings with them. This way wherever the rings touched each other (which is where the oxidation occurs and black dust is generated), the Invisible Shield would act as a barrier between them. It's basically the coating that LV should have had on the rings to begin with.
Well I'm happy to report that 2 weeks later there are NO marks whatsoever. Whenever she uses the eraser, whereas before it would remove black dust, now it comes away totally clean. She has completely stopped worrying about the issue and loves the bag the way it deserves.
If anyone is interested in this fix, you might want to visit your local mall and see if there is an Invisible Shield booth set up. They may or may not help you, but if they're bored and you're nice to them maybe they'll help you with this.
If you want to DYI, I would suggest you order online from a cheaper company called Best Skins Ever. Same product, but much cheaper because their marketing and packaging is minimal. For instance, you could buy the iPhone back skin for $5.99 (http://www.bestskinsever.com/iphone-3g-3gs-skin) and that would be enough to cover the rings.
All you want to do is cut the material into strips just wide enough to cover the inner ring surface. You'll need 2 strips per ring: each strip just long enough to cover half length wise, because it would be too difficult to have 1 strip cover the whole ring.
If anyone has any questions feel free to ask. It's a crazy thing to have to worry about this for such an expensive bag, but if a quick and easy solution like this can help relieve some of that anxiety, then I say go for it.
http://forum.purseblog.com/louis-vu...-wearing-really-badly-anyone-else-563481.html
First off, I'm a guy and I bought the Galliera GM for my GF about a year ago, and soon after she started noticing the black marks. Being the type of person who likes to take care of her bag, this bothered her tremendously and she resorted to using an eraser every day to clean off the black marks. I mean, every day, multiple times a day. Eventually, however, this started discoloring the vachetta itself (turning it a lighter color), and that's when I researched the issue and found the thread above.
Long story short, we brought it in, me armed with a printout of the whole thread to show this was a common issue, and had them replace the rings AND the leather trim. We got the bag back 6 weeks later, she was ultra excited, but guess what...the problem soon resurfaced. Every day when she used her white eraser it would remove black dust from under the rings. It was a huge disappointment!
That's when I had an idea.
I use this product called Invisible Shield to protect my iPhone. It is a super resilient material that's intended to prevent scratches to delicate surfaces like the iPhone screen. Once applied, it stays tight and is very hard to notice, but it can be peeled off very easily and leaves behind no residue.
Since I had some leftover pieces I decided to cut them into strips and basically line the inside part of the rings with them. This way wherever the rings touched each other (which is where the oxidation occurs and black dust is generated), the Invisible Shield would act as a barrier between them. It's basically the coating that LV should have had on the rings to begin with.
Well I'm happy to report that 2 weeks later there are NO marks whatsoever. Whenever she uses the eraser, whereas before it would remove black dust, now it comes away totally clean. She has completely stopped worrying about the issue and loves the bag the way it deserves.
If anyone is interested in this fix, you might want to visit your local mall and see if there is an Invisible Shield booth set up. They may or may not help you, but if they're bored and you're nice to them maybe they'll help you with this.
If you want to DYI, I would suggest you order online from a cheaper company called Best Skins Ever. Same product, but much cheaper because their marketing and packaging is minimal. For instance, you could buy the iPhone back skin for $5.99 (http://www.bestskinsever.com/iphone-3g-3gs-skin) and that would be enough to cover the rings.
All you want to do is cut the material into strips just wide enough to cover the inner ring surface. You'll need 2 strips per ring: each strip just long enough to cover half length wise, because it would be too difficult to have 1 strip cover the whole ring.
If anyone has any questions feel free to ask. It's a crazy thing to have to worry about this for such an expensive bag, but if a quick and easy solution like this can help relieve some of that anxiety, then I say go for it.
