Vintage Handbag Restoration / Repair

[spiralsnowman]

I know some of you guys also like vintage bags... Have you guys ever taken one to a restoration shop?

I recently bought an old leather Givenchy bag from eBay, and I've sent it off to a place that specialized in handbag restoration... they told me they'd clean and use a color mix to spray on the bag. I'm kind of nervous as to how it will turn out, does anyone have experience about this?

 

[vintage_princess]

Not me in afraid, a color mix does sound a bit extreme though..

 

[voodoo_mary]

i never tried a color mix or dyeing (i'm assuming they are dyeing the bag??)
but, i did have my vintage bag dry-cleaned cos there were stains . the drycleaning process left my bag "patchy" as in the color ran out. and the bag became really strange (some parts were ok, some were washed out). modern day cleaning chemicals are usually v v strong and will remove stains AND color too. i guess it makes sense to clean and THEN re-color the bag. tho i have yet to try it

 

[lanarama]

Is your bag leather? I have a 1960s chanel bag that could use some sprucing up-- the quilted canvas is worn, as is the chain-strap. I wonder what they could do for that? I've asked around at dry cleaners, and no one has any info for me.

 

[mundodabolsa]

^chanel boutiques restore bags for a fee, I don't know if they do vintage ones or only more recent styles. They might even replace the strap, as LV would do, I have no idea what the cost is though.

 

[lanarama]

The chanel boutique said they couldn't do vintage... I wonder if I should persist on that, though..

 

[spiralsnowman]

^^^ Lana, my bag is leather. You should try shoe repair shops in your area, they deal w/ leather repair, so many of them also fix bags. The one I went to purportedly restores bags for dept stores and Coach (or so they say).

Oh! It just occured to me that I should've taken pictures of my bag before I sent it off, we could've compared 'em. Darn.

 

[softgrey]

found a great place on 33rd st in manhattan called Fordham...
am having my fendi restored there....they were recommended by the fendi boutique....
they are making me a new strap...


hopefully the bag will be good as new once it's done...
...

 

[jun3machina]

i've never sent anything out to be repaired, but have done minor repair work and cleaning on vintage bags myself.

 

[PrincessImp.]

so far no...the vintage bags that I have are still in good condition.
This is a great topic though on TLC for vintage bags!

 

[lucy92]

i bought a faux thomas wylde bag and i want to turn it into a messenger bag.

would this fordham place in NYC be a good place to go to switch the straps?

if anyone has any other reccomendations, i would love to hear it!

 

[softgrey]

picked the bag up today and i am pretty confident that no one will ever know the difference...

it's so weird to have the bag back!...

lucy- i am pretty sure they could do that...
you should talk to the guy there-his name is scott
212/889-4553

 

[Luna]

found a great place on 33rd st in manhattan called Fordham...
am having my fendi restored there....they were recommended by the fendi boutique....
they are making me a new strap...


hopefully the bag will be good as new once it's done...
...

Hey, I work on 33rd.... crazy. Is it near the empire state building?

 

[softgrey]

yep- it's right there...
10 e.33st...