Vintage Coach Restoration: Coach Specator Crossbody

My first attempt at doing a restoration of a vintage Coach bag was on a Coach Spectator bag. I got this one off of Poshmark for $30 and I would say it was in good vintage condition. The bag, made in the 80’s, is a rectangular black and brown leather bag with an adjustable cross body stray. The black leather was scratched and the brown trim was scuffed pretty good. There were no stains or smells on the inside.

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This was my first time doing a full dunk and wash on a handbag. Prior to dunking, I did use some Brasso on the turn lock and on the side hardware. I used Dawn dish soap (just the regular stuff), just a few drops, and ran it under lukewarm water. I then fully submerged the bag and used a soft bristle toothbrush to lightly scrub both the inside and the outside of the bag including the pockets and the hardware. After washing with soap, I drained and refilled the sink with regular lukewarm water, dunked the bag a few more times and then ran lukewarm water all over and inside the bag to rinse it.

Using towels, I patted the bag dry then laid it flat with the top flap fully out, stuffing one towel on the inside to help the bag keep its shape while drying. After about 12 hours, I then stood the bag up and put a new, dry towel on the inside and let the top flap fall over, as if the bag were closed. I then let it dry for another 12 hours.

For conditioner, I decided to try out the Chamberlain’s Leather Milk. It has a very rich texture to it and I did two applications over the course of three days, allowing drying time in between.

I think the bag turned out great for a $30 experiment. There are still scratches and marks but I think that adds a lot of character to the bag!

I’ve been using it as my everyday carry bag for the past few weeks and am really enjoying it!

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If you would like to try out Poshmark, you can use my referral code LAURAKASBAUM to get $10 off your first purchase!

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