"distressing" leather

[angel]

i was wondering if anyone knew of any good, SAFE ways to distress a leather bag? i've been using my authentic indigo Balenciaga city classique every day pretty much since i got it in January (i couldnt help it ) but now its june and i want to give it a break, so its resting in its sleeper atm.. i have a sky blue fake Balenciaga that i bought on ebay, not knowing it was fake-i bought it before i learned the differences in real and fake. its actually quite a good fake, you'd need to touch the bag or see it really really up close to notice its not real. i'm not asking for a debate on carrying fake bags btw-yes i prefer carrying my real one, but its indigo, and this is june, and i want to give it a break and carry a light colored bag. my question is-is there a way to condition the leather so that its softer? i was thinking of rubbing some leather conditioner into it, but i'm not sure if that would work. i read something, i think it was on this forum, about a girl who was going to wash her faux balenciaga to distress it, but i dont think she ever posted back if she did it or how it went. so..any ideas at all on how to make the leather softer would be much appreciated. its already got some distressing on it-its not like kthose horrible shiny fakes on ebay..i just want it a bit more softer and malleable.

 

[Luna]

a member named Buggy washed her leather bag in the washing machine and it got ruined.. so I wouldn't reccommend it... the only thing I can tell you to do is one day when you're bored, just sit there and stretch the bag out with your hands.... scrunch it up... keep doing it until the leather feels a bit more soft. I wouldn't put anything "wet" onto it.

 

[LouiseyPeasey]

There's a theater trick for distressing leather, which is to dampen (not soak!) it with rubbing alcohol - use a spray bottle or a cotton ball - before doing the squishing/stretching that luna suggests. However, the technique is meant to make a leather prop or costume look distressed - I have no idea what it might to do the feel of the leather. If you really like the bag, you might not want to experiment too much. You could maybe go to a shoe/handbag repair shop and ask if they have any suggestions?

 

[Luna]

Alcohol might ruin the bag... but I've never chanced it myself...

 

[jun3machina]

you can distress it using a darker leather polish on the bag. i have a lush balenciaga knockoff (because it was only $30 bucks) and i thought the leather looked really fake too. mines in brown, so you'll have to find a blue polish somewhere but here is what i did: i got some shoe polish and leather moisturizer. you dab the shoe polish in various areas let sit for like three minutes and then try to even it out and wipe off. then use the clear leather moisturizer and let it sit in for a few minutes too. it makes the bag smell like shoe polish for about a week or so,...so you'll need to air it out, but it does soften the leather and i've created color variation and "wear" wrinkles in mine, so it totally looks distressed. it also helps to pile stuff on it or just kinda leave it to get wrinkled too. like what luna suggested.

 

[angel]

thanks guys. jun3machina, i think i'll try something along those lines. i do like the bag and dont want to mess it up really..when i get my second Balenciaga in a couple months i plan to give the faux one to a friend. its just that it looks quite decent right now, and if i could only get it a BIT more distressed and soft it would be perfect not sure where i could find light blue shoe polish tho :/ i think i'm just going to try some really good leather conditioner first and see what that does, and also just try to physically distress the bag a bit.

thanks again

 

[oceanharlot]

just use it. it will look more distressed with time. throw it around a bit. :-P anything short of running it over with your car. that's just taking it too far.

 

[LariatGal]

really useful tips _ thank you everyone

 

[softgrey]

i threw a pair of frye boots in the washing machine AND the dryer...
and they were FINE>>>...

as long as it's not really hot water and you re-shape the bag once it's wet...
i would think it would be ok...

the alcohol thing is also good for stretching shoes...which i have also done
it could stain if the leather is not treated...
but i think if the leather is light blue...
it has probably been painted rather than dyed...
so the alcohol should not stain it in that case...

but i don't really think it would do much either...

you could also take some sandpaper to the edges to make them look more worn in and distressed...

good luck...

 

[Wafaya]

any updates on the distressing? angel how did it go with your blue bag? curious