I found the cure for my musty vintage Chanel!

madbag3342

madbag3342

Member
Jan 10, 2015
77
123
#1
I recently acquired a vintage Paris Limited Chanel from 1991. The bag was beautiful, but when I opened the package... ugh... the smell was overwhelming. The musty smell was incredibly strong and just touching the bag left my hands stinky. I immediately Googled "musty lambskin" and found disheartening information. Many people speaking of similar bags said "return it." They cautioned that lambskin is so delicate, it cannot be cleaned and if it acquires mold, you're out of luck. But I loved the bag, despite the smell. I tried all the home remedies, including freezing, cleaning, begging... etc. I saw many suggestions to put it in the sun for days but I didn't want to fade the bag and I felt that would be too harsh. Then I thought, "what kills mold?" Heat! So (don't read if you are faint of heart), I put my hair dryer on low setting, high heat, and started blowing, sweeping back and forth so as not to put too much heat in one spot. I did this for about ten minutes, all over the bag, inside the pockets, along the chain, in every nook and cranny. Then, I used Coach conditioner, just as a precaution in case I dried out the leather. And guess what? My bag is still gorgeous and no longer smells of mold (or... in full disclosure, smells 90 percent better)! To be honest, I was at the point of throwing the bag away; that's how much it smelled. But now I have a beautiful, (almost) smell-free, vintage Chanel.
Now, I know I'm going to have a bunch of Chanel-lovers horrified by what I did, but I saved a bag that no one would have wanted or used. It would have been stuck on a shelf, never loved, never brought out to be admired...or even thrown away. My bag thanks me.
 

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#4
[emoji1360] good work, worth a try definitely with nothing to lose if u weren't going to use it anyways. Low setting on hair dryer should be ok, not as scary as whipping it on max [emoji12]
 
#5
Congratulations on your success! You might try contacting Leather Surgeons and asking if they have a remedy to remove the other small amount of odor. The bag looks beautiful.
 
#11
hi!! Thanks for posting this, the bag looks beautiful. I too just bought one vintage chanel in Tokyo. Just realized last night that the bag too has a musky smell. Looks like i should go get the coach leather conditioner first.:smile: Shall try your method! Do update if you found more ways to rid the remaining bit of smell.
 
#13
madbag3342 said:
I recently acquired a vintage Paris Limited Chanel from 1991. The bag was beautiful, but when I opened the package... ugh... the smell was overwhelming. The musty smell was incredibly strong and just touching the bag left my hands stinky. I immediately Googled "musty lambskin" and found disheartening information. Many people speaking of similar bags said "return it." They cautioned that lambskin is so delicate, it cannot be cleaned and if it acquires mold, you're out of luck. But I loved the bag, despite the smell. I tried all the home remedies, including freezing, cleaning, begging... etc. I saw many suggestions to put it in the sun for days but I didn't want to fade the bag and I felt that would be too harsh. Then I thought, "what kills mold?" Heat! So (don't read if you are faint of heart), I put my hair dryer on low setting, high heat, and started blowing, sweeping back and forth so as not to put too much heat in one spot. I did this for about ten minutes, all over the bag, inside the pockets, along the chain, in every nook and cranny. Then, I used Coach conditioner, just as a precaution in case I dried out the leather. And guess what? My bag is still gorgeous and no longer smells of mold (or... in full disclosure, smells 90 percent better)! To be honest, I was at the point of throwing the bag away; that's how much it smelled. But now I have a beautiful, (almost) smell-free, vintage Chanel.
Now, I know I'm going to have a bunch of Chanel-lovers horrified by what I did, but I saved a bag that no one would have wanted or used. It would have been stuck on a shelf, never loved, never brought out to be admired...or even thrown away. My bag thanks me.
Click to expand...
Mine is limited edition with the bi-coloured CC as well. How much was yours, if you don't mind to tell?
 
#14
madbag3342 said:
I recently acquired a vintage Paris Limited Chanel from 1991. The bag was beautiful, but when I opened the package... ugh... the smell was overwhelming. The musty smell was incredibly strong and just touching the bag left my hands stinky. I immediately Googled "musty lambskin" and found disheartening information. Many people speaking of similar bags said "return it." They cautioned that lambskin is so delicate, it cannot be cleaned and if it acquires mold, you're out of luck. But I loved the bag, despite the smell. I tried all the home remedies, including freezing, cleaning, begging... etc. I saw many suggestions to put it in the sun for days but I didn't want to fade the bag and I felt that would be too harsh. Then I thought, "what kills mold?" Heat! So (don't read if you are faint of heart), I put my hair dryer on low setting, high heat, and started blowing, sweeping back and forth so as not to put too much heat in one spot. I did this for about ten minutes, all over the bag, inside the pockets, along the chain, in every nook and cranny. Then, I used Coach conditioner, just as a precaution in case I dried out the leather. And guess what? My bag is still gorgeous and no longer smells of mold (or... in full disclosure, smells 90 percent better)! To be honest, I was at the point of throwing the bag away; that's how much it smelled. But now I have a beautiful, (almost) smell-free, vintage Chanel.
Now, I know I'm going to have a bunch of Chanel-lovers horrified by what I did, but I saved a bag that no one would have wanted or used. It would have been stuck on a shelf, never loved, never brought out to be admired...or even thrown away. My bag thanks me.
Click to expand...


I seen this post and I'm glad I did! Out of all the years I have owned and brought Preowned Chanel Bags that had odor I wish I have knew about this method. My hubby brought me a Preowned Chanel bag recently and I couldn't wait to used it. It was only 5 years old, but it had a slight musty smell. Your blow dry method worked!! thank you
 
#15
madbag3342 said:
I recently acquired a vintage Paris Limited Chanel from 1991. The bag was beautiful, but when I opened the package... ugh... the smell was overwhelming. The musty smell was incredibly strong and just touching the bag left my hands stinky. I immediately Googled "musty lambskin" and found disheartening information. Many people speaking of similar bags said "return it." They cautioned that lambskin is so delicate, it cannot be cleaned and if it acquires mold, you're out of luck. But I loved the bag, despite the smell. I tried all the home remedies, including freezing, cleaning, begging... etc. I saw many suggestions to put it in the sun for days but I didn't want to fade the bag and I felt that would be too harsh. Then I thought, "what kills mold?" Heat! So (don't read if you are faint of heart), I put my hair dryer on low setting, high heat, and started blowing, sweeping back and forth so as not to put too much heat in one spot. I did this for about ten minutes, all over the bag, inside the pockets, along the chain, in every nook and cranny. Then, I used Coach conditioner, just as a precaution in case I dried out the leather. And guess what? My bag is still gorgeous and no longer smells of mold (or... in full disclosure, smells 90 percent better)! To be honest, I was at the point of throwing the bag away; that's how much it smelled. But now I have a beautiful, (almost) smell-free, vintage Chanel.
Now, I know I'm going to have a bunch of Chanel-lovers horrified by what I did, but I saved a bag that no one would have wanted or used. It would have been stuck on a shelf, never loved, never brought out to be admired...or even thrown away. My bag thanks me.
Click to expand...
Waaow I'm glad the blowdrying worked for you! I just tried it and didn't work... It just dried out the leather and spread the smell (hopefully not the mold) throughout my house... :sad: My bag was in worse condition too - would needed cleaning from professional leather cleathers anyways. But I doubt they can get rid of the smell completely.
 
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