Restoring Genuine Leather in 2024

Genuine leather sucks. Change my mind!

The only thing the seller could tell me about this bag was that it's a vintage, genuine leather messenger from the 1970's. It was really worn down and in need of TLC. Even though it wasn't a name brand, I picked it up for cheap, took a risk, and gave it a shot to keep it from ending up in a dump.

The thing to remember with rehabbing handbags is that genuine leather does not mean it's the real thing. "Genuine leather" is leather, but it's a poor grade of leather-- the stuff that's not great. As a result, genuine leather can be real hit or miss when it comes to the absorption of leather care goods.

This bag is not my favorite. I realized when I was conditioning that it was not absorbing the product and that the conditioner was sitting on top of it. The end result is one that's sticky to touch, even though I buffed the daylights out of it.

I'm posting this video for others to see what happens to genuine leather. Do you have any experience rehabbing genuine leather bags? What should I do different next time? Do you like how it turned out? Let me know in the comments below!