Bag Causing Stains on Pants

[mhip]

This comedy routine is top notch, but seriously:

Anything I can do to the bag to avoid this problem? It doesn't appear to be dirt.

Also, there's a brief case specific thread on here somewhere, I'd search that out.

 

[JFWR]

I don't know. If I had to guess, I assume your bag is made from crust leather. Some Italian companies use crust leather because

1) they can sell customers on the whole "artisanal" craftsmanship thing

2) they are often smaller workshops when compared to Chinese companies, and thus benefit from having some flexbility. If you have a huge stock of crust leather you can color them however you wish depending on the orders that come in. So instead of buy 100 hides in black and 200 hides in brown (and hoping you sell exactly this number), you can buy 300 hides in crust leather and color them however you need.

If I had to guess, I assume the color rubbing off onto your clothes are the coloring agents/ dyes that were used to color the bag. I assume you can either seal up the surface, which will probably look ugly. Or you can strip the color off, which will also look ugly.

But I don't know for sure if that's crust leather. Just my assumption from what you described.

I don't think it's crust leather, as the surface of the leather has never changed with using cleaners/conditioners on it. That's also why I don't think it's a case of dirt, as I've cleaned it before.

 

[TheShetlandSweater]

What sort of products do you use on the bag?

 

[JFWR]

What sort of products do you use on the bag?

Saphir creme universelle for conditioning. That was recommended by my cobbler who recently repaired it.

I had conditioned it last three weeks ago. Tonight I did it again to test and tons of black stains came off on the polishing cloth.

I've only used the bag three times in three weeks, so I assume this isn't dirt, but perhaps the dye coming off? I've not put shoe polish or anything on it, so nothing pigmented has gone on it.

 

[dieworkwear]

Tonight I did it again to test and tons of black stains came off on the polishing cloth.

Unless your cobbler put something on the bag, it sounds like crust leather to me.

 

[JFWR]

Unless your cobbler put something on the bag, it sounds like crust leather to me.

The staining issue had been causing a problem before the repair. This is part of why I wasn't using the bag: it was in the shop for some repairs.

If it is crust leather, could I use some neutral shoe wax to keep it from rubbing off?

 

[dieworkwear]

The staining issue had been causing a problem before the repair. This is part of why I wasn't using the bag: it was in the shop for some repairs.

If it is crust leather, could I use some neutral shoe wax to keep it from rubbing off?

I think then you would just get the oils from the waxes on your pants.

If it were me, I would call Raul at Willie's Shoe Service in Los Angeles, assuming you're based in the United States. Raul is a cobbler and bespoke shoemaker. He's solved various leather-related issues for me in the past. He also takes mail-ins if you're not local.

If he doesn't know what to do, I would just sell the bag with a warning about how the color rubs off. Trying a bunch of fixes yourself just sounds like you're going to ruin the bag and then lower the resale value.

 

[JFWR]

I think then you would just get the oils from the waxes on your pants.

If it were me, I would call Raul at Willie's Shoe Service in Los Angeles, assuming you're based in the United States. Raul is a cobbler and bespoke shoemaker. He's solved various leather-related issues for me in the past. He also takes mail-ins if you're not local.

If he doesn't know what to do, I would just sell the bag with a warning about how the color rubs off. Trying a bunch of fixes yourself just sounds like you're going to ruin the bag and then lower the resale value.

Thank you! I will be in touch with him.