Cleaning a handbag or a purse is harder than it looks. That’s because purses are usually not designed to be cleaned at all.
These days, the construction of many higher-end handbags—fabrics mixed with leathers, dyes that can bleed from one part of the bag to another, glues and base materials that may delaminate if they come into contact with certain solvents—can create a litany of problems that make them tricky to clean, even for professionals.
In addition, care labels are required only on “wearing apparel,” which doesn’t include your purse.
“Manufacturers are not bound by the Federal Trade Commission to put a garment care label on them. That’s the awfulness of handbags,” Jerry Pozniak, CEO and co-owner of the luxury dry cleaner Jeeves New York, said in a phone interview. “You’re not going to get any directions from a manufacturer.”
So handbag makers can leave you guessing about the proper way to clean and care for your purse, and they’re not obligated to tell you what it’s made of in the first place.
“These days, when manufacturers are using different synthetic materials and leather coatings, sometimes the only way to figure out what the bag is made of is to dismantle it,” David Mesquita, co-founder of Leather Spa, said in a phone interview.
The experts we spoke with said that stain removal—particularly on sentimental, vintage, and pricier items—is best left to a specialist at a reputable shoe-repair shop, dry cleaner, or leather-care company. Andrea Barnes, our in-house laundry stain expert, agreed. “If you don’t know for sure what your bag’s made of, you should take it to a leather cleaner because you can easily ruin something,” she said, “especially if it’s dyed leather.”
However, there are some lower-risk stain treatments you can try at home that may do the trick (or that will at least prevent a stain from fully setting in before you bring your bag to a pro).
Keeping bags in like-new condition with a little regular upkeep is much easier than trying to restore a bag once you’ve neglected it for too long. And, fortunately, there are lots of easy ways to keep bags well maintained and looking their best all on your own. Read on for our recommendations on cleaning, spot-treating, and conditioning handbags and purses yourself, as well as what you should be doing in between uses to help your bags last longer.
