Repair peeling leather handbag

Minniethemoocher

I have a lovely soft leather handbag (originally from the charity shop) but the leather is now cracking and peeling to show the beige lining. I have thought about glueing down the peeling leather but does anyone have any advice on how to repair it?

Molly41

Are you sure it is leather?
Look out for another charity shop bargain x

Minniethemoocher

Yes, it is definitely leather; it is a Bulaggi, very soft red leather and I have grown rather fond of it.

valk_scot

I have to say it doesn't sound like leather to me either. Does the beige part look sort of knitted where it's peeling? If so it's leatherette. Might be the bag was a fake. Leather might crack if it's not polished properly but it wouldn't peel. Of course it might be leather that's been sprayed or painted but that would also indicate lesser quality, good leather would be dyed.

You could always take it to an old fashioned shoe repair place and ask their advice. They usually do handbag repairs as well, they'll be able to restore most leather.

ETA: I Googled for Bullagi Bags and at least one of the websites proclaimed them as "Bulaggi are a well known manufacturer of stylish synthetic bags." And at these prices, I belive them. Bags that size made of leather would cost a lot more.

Minniethemoocher

Yes, "knitted" is a very good description of what it looks like underneath the "leather".
It was a charity shop buy, only £3, so sadly not worth getting repaired in a shop really, but is is very attractive. I think that I will attempt a repair with glue. Strange though, because it does smell of leather.

valk_scot

Some of the trim might be leather? Or the previous owner might have used leather polish on it.

Anyway, for leatherette you could try PVA glue. The reason leatherette splits and peels though is that the knitted base layer flexes more than the bonded outer layer and thus the outer layer will delaminate because of this. So the problem is only going to get worse.

Good buy for £3 though!

Minniethemoocher

Thanks! I'm going to get some PVA glue, glue it back down, polish it up and hope for the best!

blossomhill_2

Minniethemoocher wrote: »

Strange though, because it does smell of leather.

If you ever go to Italy beware of buying bags on smell alone - my mum's friends all bought "leather" smelling bags in a shop that smelt of so much leather and learnt later from their tour guide that some shops and stalls use leather-smell spray

I was offered a leather tag to smell on a synthetic bag in Turkey - yup the tag smelt of leather, the bag was clearly synthetic though

I hope you find a solution

[Deleted User]

I have a lovely 'Radley ' bag that my eldest DD gave me and in the 'summer' (yes we did have one for about a fortnight ) I was helping my youngest DD and the children unload the car at Westgate and stupidly put my bag down to rest by my foot and got two spots of tar on the bag I have tried everything I can think of to get the spots off and now I think I'll just have to see if my local cobbler can put a patch over the spots to cover them.Its such a shame as its a brilliant bag Luckily my DD had been given them by her boss whose extravegant wife was chucking them out as she didn't use them DD had one and I had the other The only time I have ever had a really classy bag and I get blooming tar on it I'm just not meant to be a classy bird I think :)

Minniethemoocher

Oh what bad luck! It probably doesn't notice as much as you think. No ideas how to remove tar, but I do hope that by taking it to the cobbler you can do something about it. You must be gutted!

I will let you all know how I get on with my glueing and polishing attempts.

blossomhill_2

If you can find such thing as a "chandlers" (maybe at a marina or seaside) they often sell a tar remover product - try on a hiddne area in the bag first though