How to get a smell out of a bag

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#181
I had a vintage LV Speedy that smelled really bad so I'm not sure you can use the same things. It had a mildewy/moldy/strong powdery smell all mixed together. My younger son used to love sticking his head inside the bag and say Pee-yew again and again:p
I tried:
coffee grounds
sachets
perfumed cardboard liner (sprayed every day and kept it inside forever)
perfume sprayed tissue paper tucked inside every night
Damp Rid (huge mistake--- it absorbed soo much moisture it got gooey and left wet shmutz all over the bottom which then had to dry out.....
constant airing out
Finally after a year, I used scented baby wipes and SCRUBBED the entire inside. I used a whole container and kept scrubbing and throwing out the wipes....By that point I didn't care if I ruined the bag- I just wanted the smell out. I also had it listed for sale too...
It figures the wipes worked! They even got most of the gigantic ink stain out. (Oh that was another problem):smile1:
 
#182
love my dogs said:
Will freezing hurt the leather tho for so long?
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You need to have a leather professional sanitize and clean the bag first.

Once that is done and odor still remains, you would have to wrap your bag VERY CAREFULLY in some paper wrappings and put it in a plastic bag in the freezer.

Freezing won't hurt the bag as long as the leather is not touching any part of the freezer. Do not remove the bag from the wrappings until it comes back to room temperature!! I have no idea what may happen if you take it out all of a sudden, it might crack most likely.

I did the freezing method to my vintage Chanel and the horrid odor went away overnight. Before that, you could smell the stink, even after cleaning, from across the room. It was nauseating and I was so embarrassed to carry it. I'm glad it worked for me.

Everyone's mileage may vary so I would say, do this with some caution and there is no guarantee it will work...start off with an hour, turn bag, check, return to freezer until you do not smell odor except for the leather smell itself.
 
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#183
Mold is a fungus. It needs to die to stop the smell. It dies by freezing or hot, dry air, as well as different chemicals.

I think what rainrowan's saying is that the bag needs to slowly adjust temperature, not abruptly. Frozen anything is more likely to crack.

I've used my blowdryer on some of these kind of things. Also washing, vacuuming out the water with a wet vac, then blow drying then put in the sun and air. Let us know how it comes out~
 
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#184
goldbundles said:
clean them w/ leather soap and lotion, then, air them for quite sometime.
i once had a Dior handbag w/c really got moldy, i had it washed and dried right away. all w/ patience. happily, all went well.
Click to expand...

I did the same with my Celine clutch. It had mold - especially on the leather lining - so I washed it with soap and let it dry outside. Also, when I don't use it, I leave inside a small clothes deodorant thing (smells like rose). Anyway, you can't *completely* remove the smell, especially if the bag has been in a bad storage solution for a long time but you can made it wereable. I have a exotic clutch that smells funny but I can't wash it due to the leather nature. I just use some kind of pine clothes deodorant and use it. I've never received any complain about its smell when I wear it though.


ETA: you might want to check your bags outside, in daylight, to see if there's mold in some hidden places you can't normally see. Also, I find that sometimes it's the lining that smells funny - especially the suedette one. I would try, before threw the bag away, to remove the lining.
 
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#189
I ordered a faux leather bag from forever21.com last week a long with some other items in their spend $50 get free shipping deal. It arrived today and the bag smelled horrible, I mean the smell was like rotten fish, that's the only way I know how to describe it. I was wondering if there was a way to get rid of the smell so I don't have to return it, b/c I have to pay for shipping. I've actually got it back in it's original packaging taped up and I can still smell it through that.

http://www.forever21.com/product.as...ags&product_id=1000002143&Page=all&pgcount=25
 
#190
Bummer. The only purse odor that I've had to deal with was a musty LV. It's possible that the odor you're experiencing is definitely from the synthetic materials and might disperse with time. I guess that you'd want to keep it out of the packaging, though, so that it can air out rather than marinate.

Or, maybe just return it. If you have even a hint of fear that others will smell a foul odor emanating from your bag, then you probably wont use it at all, anyway.
 
#195
I used something called Fresh Wave that I got at the container store to get rid of a suitcase that smelled dank from a trip to the Dominican. It worked like a charm. :tup:


The only thing I'm thinking is that pleather often has a chemical smell that's actually coming from the material. It that's the problem you won't be able to get rid of it. If you're not sure about this smell, walk past the shoe department at Wal-Mart and you'll see what I'm talking about.
 
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