Restoring a Vintage Chanel Bag: How We Did It

At The Handbag Clinic, our artisans go through several years of in-depth training to develop the skills to achieve the best possible finish on all the bag repair services we offer on different luxury brands. Post training, many of our artisans then go on to specialise in specific brands and leather materials such as exotics. All of the products used are carefully developed in-house – this means we are unique in knowing exactly what we are using throughout the repairs and can guarantee they are the best for the handbag restoration.

The condition of the vintage Chanel bag

A Chanel handbag is often seen as a staple item in the wardrobe of the fashion-forward. However, when worn daily, the condition can diminish from its former glory. This gorgeous Chanel Classic Flap was ten years old and in serious need of a refresh. The bag was booked into the clinic for a full restoration service.

How we restored the Chanel bag 

Step 1

To begin the bag repair, we removed the leather in the chain from the bag. This area of the bag sees the highest signs of use, therefore sees a great deal of colour loss and wear.

Step 2

The exterior of the vintage Chanel bag is then deep cleaned to remove any ingrained dirt and prepared with our specialist solution to prepare the leather for repair. The interior of the bag is also thoroughly cleaned.

The cleaning process is done by hand to ensure that the leather is cared for, and the process is repeated three times until no further improvement.

Step 3

We then carefully masked all the metalwork to protect this during the colour work process. We understand that metal detailing on a bag is often very iconic and features the most branding, for example, the logo or engraving. This is important in the Chanel repair process.

Step 4

Our talented artisans are highly skilled in colour matching and through a detailed process, can reach the perfect colour by eye. However, if we do have a particularly difficult colour, we have a photo spectrometer which can photograph any leather and analyse the colours required to achieve that exact shade.

The colour match is taken from the underside of the flap, we always colour match to an area that is hidden from outside factors such as sunlight to ensure we are restoring to the most original colour.

Step 5

We then make sure that all areas of damage are sealed using our specialist filler. This fills in the small recesses in the vintage bag’s surfaces caused by wear and tear. This restores the texture of the bag so that the colour to be applied.

Step 6

The areas featuring the most damage, which are most often the corners of the bag and the chain, are addressed using fine brushwork to be sure that the colour is applied carefully while covering effectively. Using a fine detail brush the colour is added around the Chanel Cs.

Step 7

To restore the whole bag to its original colour, the airbrushed pigment is misted in fine layers. This delicate method helps to preserve the texture of the leather.

Step 8

The Chanel leather is then fed back through the chain and sewn back together, making sure the same holes from the original thread are followed.

Step 9

The final step is to use our protection treatment on the bag. This treatment conditions the bag to prevent it from drying or cracking, as well as adding a protective barrier to repel oil and water-based staining. Our protection treatment also has added UV inhibitors which help prevent the fading of the leather when in direct contact with the sun.

To see more of our amazing results, check out our full before and after gallery. Order your restored Chanel handbag today or browse our care products to care for your leather goods.

You can see this full process come to life in our full video below. 

 

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