Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Tips for Cleaning Suede

I got this Dooney & Bourke bag as a birthday gift several years ago and have loved it.  I love the mustard color, the size, the leather details and all of the pockets.  I did not love that one side of the bag seemed to pick up everything it touched.  I wore dark wash jeans for a while and they rubbed off on the bag.  I tried to clean it with several things and had no luck.

BEFORE:
The interior still looked brand new after several years of use.
I just wanted the outside to look as good as the inside again.
I got the wild idea to try using Oxyclean on my bag.

I started out by trying the solution out on the bottom of the bag.  
I figured it was the least seen side of the bag so it was worth the risk.



 It worked well to remove the dirt and stains so I continued to do the front and back of the bag.  I did the back first since the stains were worse and ended up rubbing the solution on it twice and rinsing it off.  After it dried the back of the bag was a little darker than the front so I went ahead and cleaned the front too.
 AFTER:

 The front side.  I hung it from a knob to help it air dry faster.  It took two days to do the whole cleaning process and I'm really pleased with the results.

 Taaaaaaaa Daaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

 The stain faded tremendously and the bag looks like new again.

Be sure to do a small test area before cleaning anything suede 
to make sure you're happy with the results.

5 comments:

  1. I'm so impressed!!!!!! Thank you for this amazing tip!

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  2. Wow, what a difference! Great tip - thanks for sharing!

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  3. I've had that happen with dark jeans before - on suede shoes - which is so frustrating! I will definitely try this on my shoes. How much oxiclean and water did you use? I also have some leather bags with similar smudging but don't know if stains like that can be removed from leather! :(

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  4. Wow!! I had no idea. We have suede furniture - I will have to try this!!

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  5. I have a pair of booties that could totally use this treatment. Thanks for sharing!

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