Cross-body, backpack, tote or clutch, your favourite suede bag needs expert care and cleaning to last. Suede is made from the underside of the leather, which is softer and has a napped finish. As suede is open and absorbent it shows marks, water stains and dirt easily so we’re going to share our tips to keep suede clean.

1. Trimming Suede

With wear, suede can start to bald or with bushing the nap can get long and need to be trimmed – particularly with cowhide. If you do this at home, use nail scissors and do not cut close or you are likely to cause more damage.#

2. Water Marks

Avoid using suede in the rain or getting it wet. Water is likely to leave halo marks.

Protectant Spray

Before you use your suede bag apply a protector spray. This will reduce the risk of colour transfer and help reduce water absorbency.

4. Make-Up and Ink Stains

Make-up and pen stains are stubborn to remove and can bleed through the interior to the exterior of the bag. We strongly recommend keeping your make-up and pens in a small waterproof case.

5. Cleaning

Use a dry nail brush to gently dust off your bag. A lot of the dirt you see is often superficial and will come off this way.

Use A Nail Brush To Remove Surface Dirt

6. Uneven Nap and Colour

If the bag is looking faded or uneven we recommend brushing it. The nap on suede has always a side that looks duller and one where the colour looks deeper and the nap is softer. Use a nail brush and make sure to brush your item all in the same direction so that all the panels match

7. Colour Transfer

Suede is a porous material and doesn’t have a strong dye fixation. Suede can be prone to colour transfer onto other garments if in doubt, rub a light colour cloth against the suede to test it.

Rub Suede With A Clean Cloth To Test For Colour Transfer

8. Storage

Suede bags are often unstructured, we recommend stuffing your bags when not in use to keep their shape. Keep your bag in a Swolit dust-bag to minimise the dust it collects and helps keep the suede clean.

9. Brushing Different Suedes

There are several types of suede. Goat is very delicate with bright colours and looks almost like velvet so it requires less brushing. Cowhide suede has a larger nap and when you brush they might become very long. Pig suede has very little nap but presents diamond shaped holes and it is the toughest one to be cleaned.

Mainly at Swolit we use Cowhide