I'm Taleen Akopyan, cofounder of Purse Rehab.
We are a designer-handbag- and
leather-goods-restoration company.
Today, I'm going to walk you through
how my team restores
a burned Louis Vuitton Neverfull bag.
This is the Damier Ebene Neverfull print.
It's their top-selling bag today.
This bag is about $2,000, depending on the size.
Unfortunately, the bag was left, by accident,
on a burning electric stovetop.
So the entire base is basically burned,
along with the piping,
and the side of the bag is also burned.
To start, we're going to unstitch the base.
And in order to do that,
we're using a round awl to remove the stitching
and remove the piping as well.
We're going to clean off some of the debris here
using a soft-bristled brush.
This is a coated canvas bag.
Basically, coated canvas is cotton
that's coated with polyvinyl chloride.
So that's why you have that black color
and the hardness of the canvas.
Now we are drawing the template
using the base that we removed.
And we are using cowhide leather.
This is premium leather
that matches the existing trim on the bag.
We're going to also skive the base at the edges.
Skiving is essentially shaving down the leather,
and it's usually done at the edges
so that they're easily foldable or stitchable.
To match the interior red canvas of the bag,
we are cutting a new piece of red material
to glue on and stitch onto the base
so that the interior is fully compatible
with the existing lining.
And it's very much like the Louis Vuitton material.
We have to make a new piping to add to the base.
This is made out of the same leather.
And so we cut out the piping and glue it onto the base.
And, in addition to gluing it,
we will also be stitching the piping
so that it's double reinforcement.
Simply gluing it isn't going to give it
that extra strength that it needs,
because it is a base, so it's a stress point on the bag.
In addition to making the base,
we are going to recreate the burned piece
that's on the side of the bag.
We are using recycled Louis Vuitton material
that's in the Damier Ebene print,
so that it looks more seamless
and it blends in nicely with the bag.
We try to align the pattern on the bag first visually,
to make sure that we can make it fit.
Once we cut it, we are going to glue it
onto the canvas and also stitch it.
And once the recycled piece is on the bag,
we're going to trim off the excess burned portion
that's underneath the bag.
Once we've completed the preparation of the new base,
it's time to put it on the bag.
First, we glue it onto the bag using leather glue,
and then we are stapling the base
onto the body of the bag.
It's a unique feature that our craftsmen use here
so that when we're stitching it together,
it's solid and it doesn't move.
Once we're done stitching the base onto the bag,
we are removing the staples
using a round-tipped staple remover,
which does not damage the canvas or the leather.
Once we're done with the structural issues
and the repairs on the bag,
we're cleaning it using a mild cleaner
to revitalize and condition the canvas.
It would've been impossible for us
to match the exact same pattern and material.
We did our best to come up with a solution
that does blend well with the bag
and makes it usable in the long run.
And that, essentially, was our client's goal.