I'm Taleen Akopyan. I'm cofounder of Purse Rehab.
We're a family-owned company.
We've been in business for 35 years.
I'm going to walk you through how my team restores
a $2,000 Louis Vuitton belt bag
that's been slashed.
It's from their 2003 collection, so it's discontinued.
Our client reached out to us.
Unfortunately, this was part of
an argument with an ex-boyfriend,
who decided to slash her favorite bag.
The repair process will entail several steps.
What we have here is our senior technician
disassembling the front pocket of the bag
from the main zipper compartment.
And this is done by undoing the stitching
that's on the outermost layer.
And what we're using here is a round awl
to open up the stitches.
It's important to use a round awl,
because this will help with not damaging the canvas.
Once we've taken apart the front pocket,
we will move on to the main lining
and we will undo the stitching there to remove the piping,
which is basically what's keeping the front pocket
and the main compartment together.
And, again, we will be using
the same round awl to do this step.
Once we're done with the deconstruction phase,
we will be replacing the following pieces
that have the most damage:
the front pocket, which includes the lining,
and the lining that is also
part of the main compartment,
which is outer-facing.
So the three layers will be replaced.
Here, we're recreating the pieces
that we're going to replace.
And we do this by making templates
to match the exact size
of the original piece that we're replacing.
We're using a sharp knife to cut out the template.
We have three different pieces that we'll be doing.
So this is an important part of the replacement process
to ensure that we get the exact same template
that matches the original piece.
We are using authentic recycled Louis Vuitton material.
We have the canvas that we'll be replacing
with an authentic piece that matches the original.
And we are also using the lining from a recycled bag
that matches the existing lining.
So, in essence, we are using
the exact same type of material
to restore the pieces that we are replacing.
Here, our senior technician is skiving the canvas.
Skiving is a process
where the leather or canvas is thinned out.
It's essentially shaved to a thinner layer,
and it's typically only done around the edges
because those are the areas
that we're going to fold and stitch.
Once the canvas is skived,
our technician here is applying glue
to the area that was skived.
And we're using a plastic container with a pointy tip
to ensure that the glue is only applied
to the area that we need to apply to.
We have applied the glue.
Now we'll be putting the lining
together with the canvas that we recreated.
And we apply the heat
because the heat helps activate the glue
so that it adheres better and it's secure.
Once we've completed this step,
we're going to stitch the Louis Vuitton monogram piece
that we are reusing.
This is the original piece
that we're restitching on the lining that we cut out.
So the lining is new,
but the top portion is the existing piece.
So, once we restitch this together,
we will bring the front pocket and the back lining together.
Once the two pieces have been separately stitched,
we will glue them together using contact cement glue.
We need to glue every piece before we do the stitching
to ensure there's no movement and it's very secure.
And once we have the front pocket
and the back lining together,
we are going to put in the date code.
This is an important piece
to retain the authenticity of the bag.
Once that's done, the next step is to reglue the piping
to the trim of the front pocket.
Again, here we're reusing the same piping
because it wasn't damaged, and we want to retain
as much of the original parts as possible.
After gluing the piping,
we're going to restitch to the front pocket.
You'll notice that the piping has two stitch lines.
One is to stitch the piping to the front pocket,
and the second line is to stitch it to the main compartment.
The next step here is to patch up
the interior-lining cut.
We did not replace the full interior lining
in an effort to retain the original pieces,
because it wasn't very damaged
and it's a less visible space.
We're using a wider brush to apply the glue
because we're working with wider space,
so we don't have to be as precise.
We're now gluing the main compartment
to the exterior pocket.
And we are stapling the two pieces together.
This is not something
that's typically done in this industry,
but our senior technician
has been using this technique for many years.
And it's a successful technique
because it's basically an added layer of security
to ensure that there's zero movement
when we're stitching all the pieces together.
And he's hammering down the staples
to ensure that they're flat
and there's no chance of them being caught
in the sewing machine when we do the stitching.
And we're using a guide to ensure
that the stitching is straight and aligned with the bag.
And here we are removing the staples
using a stapler remover, and this is a rounded tip,
so it doesn't cause any damage to the bag.
We're hammering the edges of the bag
after turning it right side out to straighten out the edges
and ensure everything is in place.
Of course, we have to straighten out the piping
to make sure everything is in place,
so that the final stitching
will be as perfect as possible.
We have to be very careful in this particular stage
to ensure that the needles go back into the same holes.
So we have to be very focused and very careful
in making sure that we are using
not only the same color thread,
the thickness of the thread has to match,
and we follow the holes accordingly.
I'm super pleased with the results
and so proud of our team and our senior technician
for taking this challenge on
and giving this bag a second life.
I can't wait to share it with our client.