Purchasing a Madewell bag has been on my lust list (this is a thing right?) for a while. I *almost* bought on a few years back but there was a rumor of layoffs at my company and I something told me to hold off and save my money. I ended up getting laid off and switched to money-survival mode.
Flash forward 2 years and I am back at my same job and was in need of a new bag. Madewell had some great sales over the holidays so I finally got my dream bag and even got it monogrammed. I take very good care of it and use a leather protectant which has saved me from a few spills and walking miles in rainy NYC.
This weekend, I was at dinner with my parents when my dad said ‘what’s on the bottom of your purse??’. I thought it was a shadow, but quickly realized the bottom of my bag was covered in water.
A leaky water bottle inside my bag was the culprit.
I knew I just had to wait for it to dry to see the damage. I let it sit overnight but my bag was still damp to the touch in the morning. I realized the protectant on the outside of the leather was probably trapping the water inside the leather so I used a cleaner to remove it and then set my bag in front of a fan for a few hours. This really helped dry it out.
Once it seemed totally dry, there was still a faint water mark line. I used a leather cleaner to clean the spot which was mostly from the bottom seam up the back of the bag. Once the cleaner evaporated, I recovered with protectant. There is still a faint line but probably wouldn’t be noticed by anyone but me.
I read through a lot of advice online, including on the Madewell website, but none seemed overly helpful. My advice if you do spill water on a bag is to remove all protectants and put it in front of a fan to dry ASAP. I regret not doing this sooner!
Do you have any tips for hiding a water stain on a bag?
This helped me a ton with my bad. Thanks!!
I’m glad it could help!!
Where did you purchase your leather cleaner and mink oil?
I got mine at target, but I don’t know if they carry it anymore! Amazon has it though! https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00N9CHI2O/ref=mp_s_a_1_12_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1548318047&sr=8-12&keywords=mink+oil
What cleaner did you use to remove the protectant, so that it could fan dry? (Before using the leather cleaner once the water was dried up)
It was a foam version of this one: https://www.amazon.com/Leather-Master-Soft-Cleaner-250/dp/B004RGOS24/ref=asc_df_B004RGOS24/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312201735010&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15211397403850864249&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9019654&hvtargid=pla-439513215100&psc=1
What leather protector do you like? Just got this bag!