After our guide right here on “How To Prevent Louis Vuitton’s Vachetta Leather From Uneven Tanning and Discolouration”, I received a lot of emails saying you found it extremely helpful. However, the majority of you asked if I have any other helpful tips on how to keep an even patina on your existing Louis Vuitton handbag or luggage if you’ve already started using the bag before sunning it. And yes, you definitely can still get the vachetta leather on your bag as close as that even golden honey colour! So, consider this Part 2 of the “Prevent Uneven Tanning on your Louis Vuitton” series. In this guide, I’ll also teach you how you can remove dirt, soiling, or mild water stains on Vachetta leather, so let’s get right into it, shall we?

You’ll need:

1. Alcohol-Free and Fragrance-Free Baby Wipes
2. Dry Microfibre cloth
3. Eraser that’s new and white. DO NOT use a coloured eraser

Step 1: Baby Wipes

Note: Before you begin, please ensure that your baby wipes are alcohol- and fragrance/scent- free. Baby wipes for “sensitive skin” cannot be a substitute if they’re not free from alcohol and fragrances.

Take a sheet of baby wipes and gently rub over the Vachetta leather including the tabs at the end of the zipper pull, handles, piping, detachable long straps (if any) as well as the luggage tag. Apply only gentle pressure, and do not be too heavy-handed or vigorous when you rub or else you’d end up ruining your bag instead. You’d notice the leather getting slightly matte and darker due to the moisture from the baby wipes. This is normal – do not panic! Use as many baby wipes you think is needed, and use a new sheet if you find that the wipe is getting a little “furry” or dirty.

Pay more attention to areas where you have water stains you’d like to get rid of, and apply gentle pressure as you rub the baby wipes in a circular motion. Do the same if you have parts of the vachetta leather that has got excess dirt or a greyish tinge on them – most commonly on the handles because this is the surface which your hands/arms/palms come into contact with. When you first use baby wipes on them, you’d notice that the marks actually become more prominent. That’s normal, don’t panic, you didn’t make it worse.

Leave it to dry naturally. This could take a couple of hours. Do not use any artificial heat (hairdryer, putting it out in the sun, etc) to speed up the drying process. Make sure it’s completely dry (i.e. no longer damp to the touch, and the vachetta leather is no longer dark like when it came into contact with the moist baby wipes while you were wiping it down) before moving onto Step 2, below.

Step 2: Eraser

Once you have ensured that the bag is completely dry, grab your eraser. It’s of utmost importance that your eraser is brand new and white so to minimise risk of smudging, and colour transfer (if the eraser is coloured), respectively. What I’m about to say next might sound really bizarre, but trust me, it has worked for me. Gently erase the area with excess dirt and/or water stains … or any stains in general really, even if it is colour transfer from denim or darker clothing. Use gentle pressure only. You don’t want to remove the top layer of the leather by rubbing too hard. If your dirt marks are pretty dark, be patient, keep rubbing and dusting with some breaks in between, and alternate between different areas. After erasing, you’d notice the the area has gotten a little lighter.

Don’t get a little too “eraser happy” when you see the dirt or stain lightening – don’t erase the same area repeatedly for more than 2 minutes. Or stop when it starts to feel a little too warm to the touch. … OR ELSE … well you know what happens when you keep using the eraser on the same spot on your paper? Yep, you literally burn a hole in it. You don’t want to thin out your leather or cause your leather to peel or flake, do you?

Once you’re done erasing, grab your baby wipes, and once again wipe them over all the vachetta leather surfaces, including the parts where you didn’t need to erase. Like the first time, you’d start to see it darkening and turning matte due to the moisture of the baby wipes. This time, also use the baby wipes on the entire bag, including the Monogram Canvas/Damier Azur, in gentle circular motions, and if you notice some fluid/foam buildup from the baby wipes, it’s fine. Just wipe the excess off.

Step 3: Microfibre Cloth

Once the bag’s surface is noticeably wet, grab a dry microfibre cloth and wipe the entire bag. For hardware, you can also use baby wipes on the hardware, zipper and protective feet, but don’t let it dry. You’d want to immediately grab your microfibre cloth and polish it by gently rubbing the cloth over it. You’d notice that everything is shiny, shiny shiny after that!

Once you’ve wiped everything down with the microfibre cloth, let the bag dry naturally again. You’d notice that you’d have a more even patina, and not patchy vachetta leather with some areas appearing darker than the others. If your bag doesn’t have any water stains, you can skip the Step 2, and just follow steps 1 and 3, i.e. use baby wipes that are free from alcohol and fragrances or scents, let it dry naturally, wipe it over with baby wipes again, and then use the microfibre cloth to wipe it down, and finally let it dry naturally once again.

Note: depending on how soiled or dirty your bag was, and the length of time in which the dirt has built up, it may not be completely gone after the first try, but it will, over time, get lighter after a few of these cleaning sessions. Also, this is what I have experimented with, and found it to have worked. Discretion is advised. I shall not be held liable for any damage that occurs.

That said, I hope you found this useful! Let me know how it goes with your bag 🙂

Illustrations: @weimun_draws