Extreme Makeover

This Prada purse arrived to us in near fatal condition. The purse had been washed in a washing machine removing much of the dye and creating extreme color contrast in both the fabric and leather. To make things worse, an attempt was made to restore the color using a magic marker. Note the marker coloring in the top right photo between the handles. Clicking on the photograph will enable a clooser view.

Redying the purse to it's original shade was not an option. The dramatic color contrast would still be evident as shading. The customer decided to forego any attempt for recovery and donated the purse to Margaret's for demonstration purposes. Having nothing to loose, the decision was made to dye the purse black in order to have the highest chance of success in covering up the damage. As you can see the results were dramatic. There is a chance that this purse was originally available in black and won't look out of place. The restored purse is currently on display in our La Jolla location for anyone interested in seeing the result. We left some of the lining as the original color to be able to best visualize what has been accomplished.

Prada Disaster in Toronto

Be careful entrusting your fine handbags to a "trusted" dry cleaner or shoe repair store. Handbag cleaning is a different skill set entirely. The following documents one of our most recent efforts to salvage a purse ruined by an inexperienced dry cleaner.

3/4/2007 CUSTOMER NEEDS HELP

Good afternoon from Toronto Canada. I found your website while "Googling" about cleaning Prada bags and thought I'd send you a quick email. Last May while visiting Italy, I purchased a beautiful WHITE Prada bag in Florence for my 23 year old daughter as a very special, once in a life time gift. As usually happens, the bag became dirty after several months. We called several dry cleaners in Toronto, and a specific one was recommended to us. As you can tell from the photos, the bag was not cleaned successfully and my daughter was very upset and disappointed.

Could you take a look at the photos and let me know if you think there is any way it can be restored. It seems that the leather bled into the fabric and turned it a funny color of light orange.

I am prepared to send the bag via courier if you think it is worth it, given the $ value of the bag was around $700US.

Thanks for taking the time to look at my photos. You're my only hope.

I was evaluating the photos and getting ready to respond when I received the following Email:

3/5/2007 NOW SHE IS PLAYING MY HEART STRINGS

Good morning from Toronto, Canada again. As a follow-up to my email yesterday, I thought I 'd send a photo of my daughter receiving her PRADA bag so that you can get a sense of how special the bag is. I hope you're able to help and look forward to hearing from you.

After receiving the above photograph how could I not take on the project. She obviously loved this bag. It was in very damaged condition for which the photos do not do justice. Dye from the leather had run during the previous cleaning onto the white fabric. Cleaning combination bags (leather and fabric) is very difficult and should be attempted only by the most experienced craftsman. Especially when the leather is sewn onto a light colored fabric as in this case. We tried numerous attempts unsuccessfully to remove the dye. Finally, after some creative "out-of-the-box" thinking we hit on a solution that worked. The photo below shows our customer receiving her bag in it's restored condition.

4/9/2007 REUNITED

Good afternoon Chuck. Just wanted to let you know the bag arrived at my office today around lunch time. I have looked at it and am truly impressed with what you were able to do. Can't wait for my daughter to see it.

Well, she did get to see it. And the rest they say is history.

Prada Purse

Keeping your white purses white can be difficult. I don't recommend using light colored purses for traveling or under conditions that you are unsure of the environment they will be exposed to. Use black or dark purses under these circumstances.

As you can see, most general dirt and grime can be removed to make that white bag one of your favorites again.