how to clean white leather purses

This post covers the important points regarding how to clean a white leather bag . That includes dos and don'ts, the cleaning products you could use and the procedures.

Also how to proceed when the task is beyond your capability–what you might need to do if you think all these steps are too much for you.

But before that, we look at handy ways and tips to protect it from stains so that you don't have to do a lot of cleaning every other day.

And finally, we look at how to handle a white leather turned yellow situation.

Let's first cover the background.

Intro

There is a misconception that white leather becomes dirty faster than say brown or black leather. For this reason, you may find yourself avoiding to buy a white bag even though you really like how lovely it looks.

And if you already own one, you might hesitate to carry it outside because you fear that it might collect stubborn stains and lose its beauty.

In most cases, the whiteness happens to be what attracted you to the leather bag in the first instance.

Therefore if the color doesn't hold on for long, then the bag might turn out not to be worth the price you paid for it

However, it is important to point out that a white leather bag doesn't get dirty faster than leather bags of other colors.

What happens is that white is effective as a contrasting background for other colors. That means stains are more visible on a white leather bag than on other colors.

Understanding this fact is the first step to knowing how to protect and take care of your white bag.

How to keep a white leather purse clean

Now, if you are wondering ' how do I keep my white purse clean?' here are the steps you should take:

1. Every time watch where you place your bag

The dirt that your bag collects comes from where you put it at home, in the car, at the office or even at the restaurant. And also how you carry it around.

It is important that you carefully inspect and consider carefully where you want to place your bag. Try as much as you can to minimize the chances of it coming into contact with dust, food particles, soft plant leaves, and other sources of stains.

If you are eating at a restaurant, for example, keep the bag at the far end of the table where it can't catch soup splashes and food drops.

Also, make it a habit to first wipe where you place your white leather bag.

2. Make sure your hands are not transferring stains

Your hands are always a potential source of stains for your bag. Always make sure they are clean before you pick the bag.

If you plan to eat when out with your white bag, have wipes around to clean your hands.

The same applies if you are handling any other kind of substance that might leave transferable stains on your hands.

Even when you are not doing anything likely to stain your hands, you should regularly wipe them throughout the day.

That is because your hands excrete sweat that comprises of various types of compounds and oils.

These can quickly turn into stains themselves or attract dust particles from the surrounding and attach them to the leather.

You should carry a clean white handkerchief for regularly wiping your hands. This should be a must-carry, especially if you have sweaty palms.

Also important, you shouldn't touch the bag with your hands covered in a significant amount of hand lotion.

Wipe the well with a clean handkerchief before you proceed to touch your white bag .

3. Be careful with the clothes you wear

Another significant source of stains on a leather bag is your clothes. Most fabrics, when they rub on surfaces, they leave their color.

And the color is more visible, especially if the surface is clean white. When hanging your bag from your shoulder, it is bound to rub on the clothes on your hip.

The process of color transfer is accelerated by the habit of placing your hand on the bag and exerting pressure on it, which in turn rubs harder on the fabric.

Some types of fabric would more easily transfer their color onto the surface of the leather than others.

A good example is the denim jeans. I covered the topic of how to clean a leather purse from jean stains in another blog post.

The clothes you wear when you carry your white handbag should ideally be white or those you are sure do not bleed color.

Also, make sure the handbag doesn't press hard on the clothes when you are carrying it.

4. Watch out for scratches

Another very destructive thing you have to protect your bag from are scratches. Scratches are as bad as, or even worse than stains.

When walking in narrow paths, hold your bag close to your chest — the same with when walking in crowded spaces. You never know what sharp points might come from other people.

When entering and exiting a car, hold your bag in front of you to avoid contact with the car door or body.

5. Store your bag in a humid free environment

Another source of stubborn stains is water absorbed by the leather. The water ends up mixing the outer white coat with broken down components of the inner leather

Water also, along with high temperatures, might lead to the growth of mold, which is another stubborn stains, especially on white leather.

When not in use, store your white leather bag in a dust-free, well aired and dry place. And if you happen to be rained on while carrying it, wipe it immediately with a dry, white (colorless) soft cloth, and keep it in an airy place to dry.

Whatever the case, never put the bag in the sun. That will damage it, and in particular, would accelerate its yellowing.

6. Avoid carrying things that can leak.

Carrying stuff that can leak is one way to guarantee yourself stubborn stains on your white handbag.

You must resist the urge to keep food, drinks, and other things that can easily flow onto your leather in your bag.

Also carrying such stuff next to your bag is as much a considerable risk. You never know when they start leaking all over your bag.

And this can create messy and stubborn stains, some of which might be impossible to get rid of.

7. Don't carry it if you are going to drink

If you suspect you are going to be taking alcohol or drugs, which will impair your judgment and control, then perhaps it is not a good idea to carry your favorite white handbag.

It is likely to get alcohol droplets to get on its surface or you are likely to lose balance and fall on staining substances such as soil, mud or green grass.

Generally, you will not be in a good position to protect your bag.

8. Understand what type of leather you are dealing with.

Is it faux, is it top grain, is it patent leather……? These questions are important because different types of leather require different cleaning approaches and treatments.

In particular, you should know what kind of finishing or cover has been added on top of the leather.

Of course, white is not a natural color of the leather. A different type of dye is added to achieve the clean white look you see.

It might be essential to know what that dye is or at least have an idea. You should ask the salesperson at the boutique where you buy the bag or engage the manufacturer on social media, chat on their website or any other customer support contact they provide.

They might not tell you how exactly the leather is turned into clean white, but they can give you appropriate tips on how yo clean their particular type of white leather.

They can tell you what cleaning products are likely to work well and which ones might hurt your leather.

Always try to find out the particular cleaning product the manufacturer of your specific white leather bag recommends.

If you are in a position to, reach out to where you bought it and ask them about it.

In many cases, if what they recommend doesn't work and your bag gets ruined, they may consider accepting a return

If you can't figure out how to clean a white leather bag of the kind you have, then you are not qualified to clean it, especially of stubborn stains, especially if the bag is the expensive luxury type.

You may have to look for professional service. I talk about this further down in this post.

How to clean a white leather bag at home

There are primarily two types of cleaning you may need to do on your white handbag, purse or even wallet;

Urgent care
Regular, thorough cleaning.

Urgent care cleaning

This is the cleaning you do at the moment your bag gets a critical stain such as coffee splashing on it or your denim jeans transferring. It is an unexpected cleaning procedure, but one that you are forced to carry out.

While it is unexpected, it should be planned for. You should have tools handy to deal with a situation when it occurs. And what you carry for the purpose depends on what you've figured is safe with the leather. Usually, a package of wipes is enough.

The most important aspect of this kind of cleaning is that you are in a position to remove stains as soon as they get on the bag. Indeed, it is easier to remove a stain immediately it lands on the bag than later because of the following two reasons;

It has not dried or grown into a stubborn stain
It has not seeped into the leather to create chemical damage

The urgent care cleaning is effective with stains such as those from food drops, mud and dust.

Indeed, even stains that turn out to be very stubborn such as color transfer from denim jeans or ink are easily removed when they are cleaned immediately after they get on the leather.

It is for the same reason that you should make it a habit to wipe the bag after every use and before you store it away.

That way, you avoid the accumulation of dirt that ends up developing into stubborn stains.

Regular cleaning

You can do this once a month, in six months or a year. It is up to you to decide, mainly depending on how you see your handbag, purse or leather. It also depends on how often you use the bag.

Items you need for your procedure include:

A large clean towel to lie on top of your work station (table or floor)
Several pieces of fresh pieces of cloth (non-colored)
Water (if you can, distilled water)
Detergent or cleaner, which ideally should be of a neutral PH. A mild soap could do.
A nail polish remover or an alcohol-based cleaner
Cotton balls
a soapy cleanser if yours is a patent leather

Attempt to talk to the manufacturer or the supplier of your type of white leather handbag on the kinds of detergents and cleaners you should use. And this is important.

Most cleaners in the market are either acidic, neutral or alkaline. Acidic cleaning agents have mineral acids, in particular, hydrochloric acid, as the main ingredient. That is why acidic vinegar is also used for cleaning.

Meanwhile, alkaline cleaning agents have strong bases like sodium hydroxide and potassium. Bleach is one of the most used alkaline-based cleaning agents.

Unfortunately, acidic and alkaline cleaning agents might corrode or react badly with your white leather bag.

Neutral cleaners and detergents are safer to use. So check out for this particular property when shopping for a cleaning agent to use.

Nevertheless, before you use any cleaner, detergent or any other cleaning agent, test it on a hidden part of the bag to see how it acts.

Give it some time to be sure it does not react with the leather.

With that said, the following are the steps you may follow when cleaning your non-patent white leather bag:

Spread the white large on a large table or the floor
Place all the items you need nearby
Identify areas on the bag with the stains
Start working on the more stubborn stains like those from ink and fabric color transfer.
Take a cotton ball and soak it in the nail polish remover or cleaner and then use it on the stain.
Rub the leather in circular motions while ensuring that you cover all the affected areas. Change the ball of cotton as many time as you need.
Meanwhile, make sure you are not rough that you will end up scratching and ruining the leather.
Pour water into the two basins or open containers
Take one of the small pieces of clothes and immerse it in the water in one of the bowls.
Add a small amount of mild soap on the cloth and squeeze the water out
Rub the cloth on leather with more focus on the specific areas with the stains you identified. Be gentle with the leather.
Repeat the process if necessary until stain is gone
Use a different piece of cloth, and immerse it in the second basin with rinsing water. Press out the water and use it to rinse the areas you just cleaned.
You may repeat the rinsing process a few times to get rid of the soap, cleaner or detergent.
Use a clean dry and soft piece of cloth to wipe the leather to get rid of water drops
Put the bag in an open, dry and airy place, so that it loses all the wetness.
Never put it under the sun. That will ruin it and accelerate the yellowing process.

How to clean white patent leather bag.

What is patent leather?

Patent leather is leather that has a thin coat of plastic or other similar types of varnish. It is glossy and shiny as a result.

To some extent, the coat acts as a protector for the leather. All the dirt is trapped on the layer, therefore what you are cleaning when you clean a patent leather is the coat and not the leather itself.

To clean a patent white leather bag, you need a soapy cleanser and a soft piece of clean rag.

Spray the cleaner on the surface and then wipe to remove the dirt. You may repeat the process if the stain is stubborn.

However, you shouldn't overdo the buffing because it ends up destroying the shiny glossy look of the leather

What about white leather turned yellow situation?

Most white leather bags and purses turn yellow over time. This process is accelerated by exposure to the elements like rain, sun and high temperatures.

Accumulation of dirt on the leather is also another contributor to the yellowing process.

You can only delay the yellowing process by making sure you do not expose the leather to water, sunlight, high temperatures, strong winds and dirt.

But is there a way to clean a yellowed white leather back to its original look?

How to clean white leather purse that turns yellow is not something that is usually successful. In fact, for the most part, there is little you can do about it in as far as cleaning is concerned.

But there might be hope if you involve stores that clean leather handbags. In addition to cleaning, some of them have the capacity and the tools to redye the leather.

Even more, they understand and know how different white leathers should be treated. For example, how to clean white patent leather yellowing might not be the same with how you clean other types of white leather.

When a white handbag turns yellow, it is most likely the time to let it go. Some people choose to carry a yellow handbag nonetheless.

When you should not clean your white leather bag

Considering the value of the handbag, you should consider whether you are capable of cleaning it or not. The following are some of the reasons that should make you not clean the bag;

The manufacturer warns about it. There are a few cases where the manufacturer strongly advises against cleaning your handbag
If you are not sure how to go about it. Not everyone can clean a bag, and that is okay.
If your bag is an expensive designer type that you can't risk ruining.
If the bag has extensive scratches that need to be taken care of by a professional.

What to do if you can't clean your white bag

The best course of action is to visit stores that clean leather handbag. These offer professional handbag cleaner and repair services.

You should pick a service provider with experience in handling handbags that are similar to yours.

And you should seek for references from people who might know well such service providers.

And the best place to get references is from the manufacturer or the boutique from where you bought the bag. They know the people who understand their products the best.

In case you feel like taking care of a white leather bag is beyond your capability but you still want to carry one, you should consider buying low-end ones.

That way, you don't have to continually worry about your bag or be heartbroken if it is ruined.