[leather scraping]
My name is Thomas Rago, and I am co-owner
of Rago Brothers Shoe & Leather Repair.
Our team is now going to walk you through
the restoration and repair of a Hermès Birkin bag
that's valued in excess of $10,000.
We received the bag, and immediately we realized
the bag needs new tubing in the handles.
The corners are worn,
it needs new feet,
and it needs color restoration.
[seams ripping]
First off, we're now going to give this bag to Luis.
He's going to begin the process of deconstructing the bag.
We do that by opening up the bag,
pulling the binding out of the inside of the bag,
pulling the stitches out one stitch at a time
so that we don't damage existing stitch holes.
Using a very sharp razor knife,
we need to take all four sides of the bag off
to access the piping on the bottom of the bag.
We've got the bag apart now,
but we need to get the excess glue
and all the stitching out.
So we are going to take a piece of rubber
and we're going to rub off that excess glue
and pull out the old stitches,
so that when we reglue this bag, it holds.
Upon taking off the old feet,
we see that we need to make the holes larger
to fit the new feet.
So what we're going to need to do
is take a punch, and punch that hole
slightly bigger than it is now.
The tubing inside of those handles are plastic.
The person may have weighted it.
So, over time, plastic breaks down. It broke.
We need to replace that tubing
on the inside of the handles.
The only way that we're going to access that tubing
is to take the handle apart.
So very carefully, with a knife,
we need to take out each stitch one by one.
So, now we have the tubing out.
We cut and measure the new tubing,
and we need to lay it on the existing handle,
close it,
and then we need to restitch that tubing
back into the handle.
And that's done one stitch at a time by hand.
The piping leather is damaged.
It needs to be replaced.
Fortunately, we have leather that is the same
as the leather that came off of the bag,
but it's too thick.
We have a skiving machine,
a machine that splits that leather,
makes it thinner.
But even so, after we thin it,
we have to take a razor-sharp knife
and even make it thinner.
After we take the now very thin leather
and wrap it around the new plastic piping,
we need to clamp the edges to close it.
[sewing machine stitching]
Hermès bags are made one at a time and by hand.
So we are going to have to take a lot of time
to bring this bag back to the condition it was in
when it was first bought.
The bag is inside out.
We can see the same stitch holes.
First thing we're going to do
is we're going to stitch the two sides.
After we do the two sides, we're going to sew the top.
And then, finally,
we are going to sew around the bottom
where we put the new piping in.
Now that we have the structure of the bag
back to where it was,
we have to think about cleaning
and conditioning and recoloring this bag.
It's faded.
The color is just not there.
Before we can redye this bag,
we have to make sure that all the surface dirt is off.
If there is any polish or conditioner on it,
we need to take that off
so that when we put the dye on this bag, it adheres.
We are using a cleaning solution,
and we take a very soft finger brush
and we scrub the bag
to remove all the excess dirt and film
and polish that we need to get off.
After we clean it,
we're going to take a clean cloth and wipe it off.
What we need to do now is we need to match the color.
We'll look on the bag and we'll look for a spot
that really looks like the bag did look like 10 years ago.
And then we will mix color, water-based paint,
to match that part of the bag.
The mixing of the dye is all done by eye
under the correct lighting.
Depending on the color,
the guy may have to mix the dyes
three or four times before he's satisfied
that he got close to the original color.
Depending on the texture of the bag,
that will determine what applicator we will use
to put the dye on the bag.
Now that we have the dye on the bag,
there are some finishing touches we need to do
that really makes the job.
We need to re-edge the handles,
and we need to re-edge the top of the bag.
Now, the edging on the handle and the top of the bag,
not the same color as the bag.
So we have to go back again to mix the color
to match the original edging that was on the bag.
The dye is dried.
We need to condition the bag.
And the reason why we're conditioning it
is to hold that dye.
That, along with resealing the bag,
is going to make certain
that this bag stays looking good for years to come.
Myself, my team, we're really proud
of the way this bag came out,
and we only wish that we could see
the expression on the client's face
when she opens up the bag and looks at it.
It really is a rewarding process.