How to care for your Les Chis backpack and travel carrier?
Congratulations, if you’re reading this blog you most likely have purchased our chihuahua backpack and/or travel carrier. Our Les Chis products are made of 100% high quality leather and sustainable materials, but of course every bag needs a bit of TLC (tender loving care that is) from time to time.
Please remember that leather is a natural product, which means that every piece is unique with slight variations in colour and shade. We absolutely love the natural imperfections of leather, hopefully you’ll embrace them just like we do.
During the tanning process, the leather receives an anti-stain finish that reduces the risk of stains. But in order to keep your bag in pristine condition, we advise you to take care of it regularly in order to avoid rapid ageing or permanent stains. Here below we share our personal tips and tricks to help you take care of your precious leather backpack or travel carrier.
#1 Apply nutrition 4 to 5 times a year
In order to put a stop to the natural ageing of the leather or to do damage control in case of an accident, we strongly recommend to apply nutrition 4 to 5 times a year. You can use specific or neutral leather cleaning products. Les Chis tip: Try the product first on a hidden surface of your travel bag to make sure it doesn’t damage the leather.
#2 Take precautions in case of long sun exposure or big temperature changes
Again, leather is a natural product that can suffer tremendously when exposed to extreme temperature conditions. That's why we advise applying nutrition before intense sun, rain or snow exposure. It's an easy way to help avoid the leather to darken, dry out or even crack.
#3 Remove stains immediately
Accidents can happen to the best of us. If you do make a stain, it’s important to act fast: remove the mark immediately with a damp cloth, working in circles. The key word is ‘gently’ here, no scrubbing allowed! Dry the leather afterwards with a soft cloth and pray to the fashion gods that the stain will disappear.
#4 Never use steam cleaners
Ok, we’ve all been there. Sometimes we go on a crazy cleaning spree. But please stay away from your leather goods when attacking with your steam cleaners, leather doesn’t like them at all. The same goes for dry cleaning, which uses solvents to get rid of stains in fabric. When used on leather, it removes the finish and hereby starts an early deterioration of the leather. Avoid the use of solvents, chlorides, polishing agents, chemical cleaning or waxing agents at all costs. Trust us on this one!
We hope that you now have all the information needed. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact us.