Are you waterproofing your Leathers?

     Yes that is the title of this blog post.  Bewteen reality tv, youtube, blogs, fashion magazines and just general development of my style I have become a bag lover. I LOVE the look of  a nice handbag. I have quite conservative tastes so most of the bags I like tend to be of a simple design and made from leather.

      I ventured into the realm of luxury bags with help from my roomate in 2009 and purchased a leather day bag from Dune named the Mission bag, it was the hot bag for the season and with some help I only paid 50% of the cost price for it. Since it was leather and I come from an old fashioned "polish your school shoes every Sunday night kinda family." I went looking for something to polish my bag with and I was introduced to "Tarrago shoe cream". Shoe creams cleanse, protect, nourish and condition fine leathers of any kind or colour including smooth, grained or delicate finishes. Helps leather to resist stains.  

     Fast forward to 2012 and after inquiring about leather bag care at one of my fave shops Zara. I was informed that 1. they wouldn't get the bag in question wet, 2. The do not sell products to care for leather bags EVEN though they sell such ITEMS and 3. just go to the shoemaker and they would give me something to use. After a failed trip to Timpson, I went to Jones the Boot maker where I was given a thorough education about leathers leather care and how important it is not only to keep fine leathers covered from dust, but It is also imperative that we waterproof them. "Leather is a skin and just like our skin it is important to keep it nourished and moisturized in order to prolong its life. It is also important to keep it waterproofed so that the material becomes resistant to rain, reason being if the material gets wet and dried constantly eventually that will cause the leather to become hard and dry." He did his do, but he was trying to sell me 3 products and I am not that dedicated especially after using my one stop shop shoe cream for these past few years. I was on the Mulberry website browsing and saw that they had some care products. Enter Collonil Classic Leather Gel. 

 "Collonil Classic Leather Gl is a solvent free gentle gel to improve the water resistance of certain leathers. It can help leather to resist dirt and moisture. This leather gel can be used on Natural leather, Printed leather, Pebbled leather, Soft spongy leather, Glazed goat leather, Soft Buffalo leather, Glossy buffalo leather," *taken from the Mulberry Website*

Picture of this item here http://www.mulberry.com/#/storefront/c5745/4706/category/

The product itself says

- Highly effective waterproofing gel.

- Suitable for any product made from leathers, nubuck, suede and textiles. 

- Provides long lasting waterproofing to all materials

Directions

- Wipe area with a damp cloth to remove surface dirt.

- Apply gel evenly

- Once dry polish the leather with a cloth

- Use as often as necessary. 

So there I have it my 1 stop shop product. We all like nice things, but in order for them to remain nice we must take care of them. Leather bags are items that should last a really long time as ling as they are provided with adequate care. the leather needs to be cleaned, polished and nourished. So I will waterproof my leathers, will you?


For my American readers you can purchase this product here on Amazon and it is quite a substantial amount of product at a great price. #envious 
http://www.amazon.com/Collonil-Leather-Gel-200ml/dp/B000SQU44S/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1327365517&sr=8-3

Hands up if you didn't know that Goat leather existed?

Have a great day my lovelies.