Two 70s/80s made-in-NYC bags, going through baths, documentins pics, as was requested

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#46
A great thread, thanks. I've washed the glove tanned Coach purses before and they've turned out great - I actually have three of them drying at the moment - one is a studded Soho purse from a few years ago which I bought second hand and which was really dirty. It's lined and I washed it with no ill effects. There was no bleeding of the bag's color onto the lining. It should take a couple more days to dry, then I will condition it and if I can, take photos to share. I pretty much follow the same routine you described - I rinse them in clean water three times, though I now wish I'd left the bags to soak a bit longer to, as you said, diffuse the soapy water out. I don't hang them to dry though - I have those net drying racks so they do get good airflow around them:)
 
#47
Wow. No words. Thank you for reminding me why I loved and carried Coach more than any other brand ever. I will now be searching for my own rehab project. You did a beautiful job.
 
#48
What an awesome job!! THANKS SO MUCH FOR POSTING THIS!!! I may just have to check out my GW and see what I come up with. I am still too chicken to try it on my original Coach - a City Bag from 1987 or so. Maybe after a trial run on another bag, I'll be brave enough to take that one on.
 
#50
Angelfin said:
Can this be done with a red leather purse.. I just picked one up that could use a cleaning.
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If it's unlined, I don't see any problems. I actually have a bright red, unlined Quincy from the 90s that had some soapy cleaning. It was in extremely clean condition in most areas, and so did not receive an entire soak. However, there *was* a "grease smudge". I gave the area in question a handwashing using my fingers and a lather of soapy warm water. .... The dye had no problem with the soapy lathering, and the grease smudge came out fine. The lather *may* have picked up a slight hint of pink, but certainly no more dye than would have come out if I'd soaked it fully. And like with the black bag in this thread -- the tiny amount of dye that came out didn't change the color of the leather. ..... (But if you're worried about the dye, a full soak would keep that nice and even too.)

So yeah, my red bag handled that soapy lather spot cleaning fine, and I've never heard of color being a real issue when doing a full soak. So I personally would not see why a red bag would have a problem. I know bunny has even soaked a green bag (in the link in my first post), and everything came out fine. I don't think "color" is a point of problem as long as the bag is unlined, and the good kind of leather from, say, the early 2000's and before.

If it has a *lining* -- that's when people worry more, particularly about bleeding or color mixing of the dyes, especially if the lining is a different color than the main part of the bag.

(Sorry if that rambled. :smile1:)


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#51
Thank you for your time . I bought 2 small leather shoulder bags one red leather with a suede interior and the other a camel brown leather with a suede and leather interior. these both are older , I want to post pictures so I can find out what kind they are and to make sure they are authentic, they look to be but I want to make sure..I paid $5,00 a piece from the Good Will. Again thank you..
 
#53
Great thread. I bought a NYC bag for 10.00. In very poor shape. Followed your directions and it is currently in the drying out stage.

It looks awesome after its bath. I can't wait until it dries and I can condition it.
 
#55
Angelfin said:
I bought 2 small leather shoulder bags one red leather with a suede interior and the other a camel brown leather with a suede and leather interior. these both are older , I want to post pictures so I can find out what kind they are and to make sure they are authentic, they look to be but I want to make sure..I paid $5,00 a piece from the Good Will.
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Yes, I would definitely advise running them past hyacinth or demram over in the authentication thread. Both ladies are vintage experts, and can usually tell you even more about the bags than simply "are they are aren't they authentic" (eg. year/era bag was made, original price, original catalog pics, etc). And there's something to be said for that extra peace of mind when you get that thumbs-up that it is, for sure, authentic. :smile1:



kathy2614 said:
...and it is currently in the drying out stage. It looks awesome after its bath. I can't wait until it dries and I can condition it.
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Don't panic if it feels a little stiffer after it's dry. That often happens for me too, but conditioning puts it right. I just wanted to head that concern off. :smile1:

And you said it's in poor shape ... before/if you decide to do anything about worn edges or worn coloring on edges, talk to bunny. She knows about the dyes, etc. I know absolutely nothing on that front. ;)

(And thank you, lov and bebepurse. I just love this old leather -- and I know bebepurse appreciates it (and has worked with it) too. :flowers: )


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#57
Here is the two purses I picked up at the Good Will for $5.00 a piece . They said that their authentic . I'm going to try your bath , and conditioning. Thank you for all the time you put into telling how to do this..
 
#58
here are the pics.

065-1.jpg
063.jpg
 
#60
I stumbled upon this thread a few days ago and decided to give one of my "vintage finds" a bath! Today she has been bathed, rinsed and toweled. She is now sitting in my guest room drying slowly. I am so so excited to see how she looks when she is finished. I found my vintage skinny tote (I call it a skinny tote, not sure of the name - looks like a small briefcase) in a charity shop and fell in love. It appears she used to be British Tan. Now she is a sad sad light brown color. I fell in love because she is exactly the same (except in color) as my very first coach bag which I still have and carry every so often. I laugh at the "vintage" description because most of my "vintage" bags I purchased new! My first Coach I bought in college. Coach was THE thing in my sorority! I saved and saved for my bag. I remember that I had to drive to another town to buy her and she was a major expenditure for me at $119!! This was 1982! I have moved on to Gucci and Marc Jacobs in the years since Coach stopped using the gorgeous heavy leather but, my lovely 11 year old daughter is a Coach fiend! She loves all the C's, Poppy and all of the cute sparkles and such that Coach is doing now!
 
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